The Light in the Darkness
by PokemonHero
Summary: Amber was living an average life. Until she was turned into Eevee. Now she must learn to survive in her new form. Will she ever find a way to become a human again? What about her new friend, an Absol named Soru? Find out.
1. Prologue: Escape

**A/N: Hello, everyone. This is the third Pokemon fan fic that I have posted here on , and the first which I am launching here (both of my other stories were launched on the Forums before being released here). You may know me for writing about the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games (_The Twilight Chronicles_) as well as the Aura Guardians _(Guardian: The Beginning_)_._ Well, this is my first attempt at a romance based story (though it may not seem like that at first). It is also the first time I'm using the first person POV as well as my first female lead character. Oh, did I mention that this is also my first M-rated story? Wow, a lot of first with this story.**

**Please read and review, as I said before this is my first time working with this genre of story. So without further ado, this is _The Light in the Darkness_.**

**Prologue: Escape**

It was very cold.

That was my first thought when I awoke. My vision was blurred from misuse and my senses were taking their time to warm up. But I knew instantly that something was wrong. As my sight grew clearer, my greatest fears were confirmed.

I was in a cage.

_But it's impossible_, I thought to myself. _I cannot fit into a cage_. I peered through the bars of my enclosure. Numerous other cages, one stacked upon another in an orderly fashion, lined the walls. I could not see the other occupants in their cages, as they were either covered or enshrouded in darkness. Somewhere in the room, something was wheezing, sounding as if it was nearing its final breath of life.

Solemnly, I withdrew my eyes from the scene outside and into my own personal prison. All sides were made of a sheet metal, explaining the chill that awoke me just moments before. There was not much room. Heck, if I tried to stand up, I would probably bump my head.

Just then, I heard footsteps walking across a tile floor. The other occupants took notice of this new sound. Groans and cries for food, water, other essentials could be heard as it walked across the room. Suddenly, the door to my cage opened and two bowls were placed before me at the entrance. I tried to say something, but I could only manage a whimper.

"Shut up, you mangy mutt," a gruff voice responded, and my cage door was shut and locked with authority.

_Mangy mutt?_ I thought angrily. I had been called many things in my life. But mangy mutt? For a moment, I refused to go anywhere near the bowls that sat before me. However, my stomach pained me with hunger and my mouth was dry. Reluctantly, I gave in to my body's demands and crawled over to the bowls.

The first bowl was filled with some sort of kibble. I recognized as the sort of food that I fed my Skitty at home. Somewhat disgusted, I turned away from the first bowl and turned to the second. It was filled with water. I crawled over the bowl, hoping to quench my thirst.

I gasped and recoiled in fright. _No way! It cannot be…_ I looked frightfully about my cage, as if afraid that someone else had noticed me. With utmost reluctance, I leaned over the bowl again.

Staring back at me was not my long brown hair or my green eyes. Instead, brown fur covered my entire face and dark brown eyes stared back at me morosely. In addition, I now had long ears and small black nose. The reality slowly began to sink in. No longer was I your normal sixteen-year-old girl who lived a normal life.

I was an Eevee.

Frantically my mind tried to figure out how I came to be this way. Earlier that morning, I had found a letter from my older brother Kyle on my welcome mat. From what he told me, he worked for a pharmaceutical company that was working on some new cures for diseases. However, he said he couldn't talk much about what he did; it was company policy.

The letter seemed harmless enough: Kyle's company—Gilroy Pharmaceuticals—was looking for some volunteers to test a new product. There was no information about what product they wanted to test on me, but nonetheless, I decided to go along with it and see what they wanted me to test.

I arrived at the company later that afternoon, still contemplating what I would be asked to test. The company was located on the outskirts of the city, about an hour or so from where I lived. The building itself was a large, gray concrete two-story building, not unlike most of the other buildings surrounding it. I walked in and asked the receptionist about the product testing. She obliged and took me to another room. At one end of the room, an old overstuffed couch sat waiting for someone to sit upon it. There was also a small coffee table with a few old magazines to keep someone occupied as they waited.

As I sat there for what seemed like hours, I thought about my brother. I had never really had a great relationship with him. He was always so secretive and untrusting of others. This was especially true after he joined Gilroy Pharmaceuticals. For all my life, I had wondered why he was this way. What big secret could he be hiding from me? I figured that this letter could be him finally opening up to me.

At last, two men in white lab coats came into the room. Both men had surgical masks covering their face, as though they had just left the ER to meet me. They asked me to follow them. Like the lemming that I am, I followed, unaware of what awaited for me. That's the last thing that I could remember.

_And now…_ I looked over my new body. Small paws instead of hands and feet. A mane of brown and white fur around the scruff of my neck. A long puffed-up tail. I had always thought that Eevee were cute, but never had I imagined being one.

Just then, I heard footsteps coming down the row of cages again. Two tall figures stood at the entrance to my cage.

"Here we are sir," the first one said. I recognized him as the one who brought me the food and water.

"So this is it?"

"Yes, Experiment EV-005."

_It? Experiment EV-005? _I felt my anger building. "Hey," I shouted at them, "who are you calling it?"

For some reason, though, they didn't seem to understand me. One of the two turned back to me and looked into my cage. He wore dark glasses and the same surgical mask that the two men wore who escorted me out of the waiting room. For a minute, he just stared at me, silently. It was very unsettling. Then he stood up and whispered something to his accomplice. He wrote down something on a clipboard before biding his comrade farewell and walking away. Now it was just the two of us, the man with dark glasses and I.

He turned back around and looked at me again. "So, sister…" he drawled slowly.

_Sister? No, it can't be_. I began to crawl away from the entrance of my cage. _You can't be…_

He just smiled and laughed. But it was unlike any laugh I had ever heard. Cold and sinister, it seemed to suck out all the warmth left in my body. In an almost calculating manner, he reached up and pulled his dark glasses from his eyes. Now he stared at me with icy blue eyes. Kyle's eyes.

"Yes, Amber, it's me, Kyle," he said coldly, causing me to further draw back away from him. "What's wrong? You're acting like you've never seen your brother before."

I felt a strong pang of anger building in my chest. "You sick bastard!" I shouted angrily. "What did you do to me?"

He simply laughed. "Now, now," he said mockingly, "mean words won't get you anywhere, especially if I can't understand them."

I was confused. _He can't understand me. Why…?_ Then it hit me. _It's because I'm a Pokemon_. I smacked myself in the forehead with my paw. It should've been obvious to begin with.

"So you've finally figured it out," Kyle continued in the same mocking friendly tone. "I guess you're not as dumb as I thought you were." Then, to my surprise, he reached out and opened my cage door. "Now come, sister. You don't want to be late for your first tests."

I continued to stay pinned against the back of my enclosure, refusing to move. Whatever these tests were, I wanted not part of them. I shook my head.

"You don't seem to understand. You are coming with me." His voice was beginning to shake with anger. It had long lost its friendly tone that may have coaxed someone who was more naïve than I. Once again, I shook my head, refusing to let my brother take further advantage of me.

I noticed a glint of anger in my brother's eyes. I had never seen my brother get angry with anyone, even at home. So to see this flare of anger was a great surprise. "Goddamn it, Amber, you're coming with me!" he shouted.

He thrust his arms into my cage, knocking over the bowls of food and water. His right hand latched onto the scruff of my neck, causing me to yelp in pain. "Let go of me!" I shouted at him, trying to break free of his grasp. He dragged me out of my cage, leaving me flailing in the air.

"NO! I've waited too long for this moment!" he shouted furiously. His eyes burned with such anger it frightened me. At that point, I almost succumbed to my brother's will. There was nothing I could do to resist him. He was going to lead me to my inevitable destruction and there was nothing I could do about it. But deep inside, I knew I couldn't give up. I had to break free from my brother's iron grasp.

I continued to flail around, causing Kyle's to lose his grip on me. Cursing under his breath, he brought his other arm around to get a firm hold. Seeing my chance, I bared my teeth and bit down on his forearm. Letting out a cry of pain, he inadvertently dropped me. Unfortunately for me, I landed on the tile floor below awkwardly. My back right leg was in tremendous pain. Ignoring the pain, I pulled myself to my feet and limped toward the door.

Unfortunately, Kyle was quick to recover and cut off my escape route. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked evilly, as he now slowly stalked toward. With each step he took forward, I stepped. "Come on, Amber. Let's get this over with already." He reached out to grab me, but I was just barely able to sidestep him.

Frantically, I looked around for some way to get past my brother. It was then that I spotted a large lever up on the wall right behind Kyle. _Hmm…I wonder what that switch does_, I thought to myself. Considering that my options were limited, I decided that it was worth a shot.

I charged at Kyle, much to his surprise. He reached out to try and snatch me off the ground. However, I was prepared for this and jumped, smashing headfirst into his sternum. The force of my attack sent my brother sliding across the floor into the wall. His head jerked back from the sudden impact, knocking him unconscious. As his body slid the wall, his arm caught on the lever and pulled it down.

Suddenly, an alarm went off. All the cage doors swung open, releasing their occupants into the room. Numerous creatures staggered out of their cages, surprised to find that they were, at last, free.

Just then, I heard a groan nearby. Kyle was stirring. Panicking, I looked toward my fellow inmates whom I had just freed. I could recognize many of them, from the yellow fur and lightning bolt tail of a Pikachu to the white-and-red fur and the sharp claws of a Zangoose. "Come on," I shouted to them motioning toward the doors. In my head, I prayed that they could understand me.

Whether the fates were with me at that time, or if everyone just had the same idea, I do not know or care. With one loud unified cry, all of us charged toward the door. Kyle stood up and attempted to block our path of escape. But we were not to be denied. We were more than enough to overpower him, and thus we surged forward, on our way to freedom.

I, injured leg and all, led us through the hell, searching for some exit. We encountered some of those white lab coats again, but we scratched, clawed, and gnawed our ways past them when at last we discovered the exit. As soon as we hit the dark outside world, everyone scattered in many directions. I held back, making sure that every one of the inmates escaped and was on their way. After I had made sure that everyone else had escaped, I ran toward the city, hoping to find shelter for the night.

Just then, I felt a rain drop land on the tip of my nose. _Great_, I thought to myself. _Just perfect_. The heavens slowly began to unleash its rains upon the earth, thoroughly soaking my fur.

Running through the unfamiliar alleyways, I searched for somewhere that I could rest. The pain in my leg had substantially increased as the rush of adreniline from the escape wore off. Cursing silently under my breath with each step, I found a large cardboard box next to a trash can. _Well, it's better than nothing_, I thought to myself. I hobbled into the box, well protected from the rain, and settled down for the night.

It was at this point that the reality of the whole situation began to sink in. I couldn't help it anymore. I broke down and cried, cried more than I had ever cried before. Gradually, my crying ceased and I fell asleep, cold, soaked, and alone…

Things couldn't have been any worse.


	2. Chapter 1: Never Say Never

**A/N: Wow, I didn't expect to see so many readers so soon. Thank you everyone who has read and reviewed so far. I've been quite busy recently with the opening of my high school's production of _Fools_, so I haven't been writing as much as I hoped. But I have indeed finished Chapter 1. Please read and review.**

**For those of you who inquired about OC's, I haven't yet decided on whether or not I will accept any. Truth be told, that's been the last thing on my mind recently, with Drama, AP Calc, and other school stuff taking precident. I will have made my decision by the time I post the next chapter. So keep your ideas handy.**

**So, without further ado...**

**Chapter 1: Never Say Never**

"Oh…"

The pangs of hunger in my stomach greeted me the next morning. I could never recall a moment in my life where I felt that hungry. Slowly, I opened my eyes. The box that I slept in that night was beginning to sag noticeably under the weight of last night's rain. Carefully, hoping to avoid causing further damage to my shelter, I crawled out into the deserted alleyway.

Of course, as soon as I had exited the cardboard box, it collapsed under the weight of the water on the roof. _Great_, I thought to myself, _I'll have to find another place to sleep tonight_. However, shelter was not on the top of my list of priorities, as my stomach reminded me in no uncertain terms.

My new sensitive nose picked up on a rancid odor, which I could only conclude to be one thing. I looked over toward the trashcan sitting where the cardboard box once stood. _Yep, that's it_. There's no mistaking the odor of rotten garbage. My nose scrunched up in disgust. _Gross_.

Just then, a strange idea came to head, which I immediately attempted to push away. "No," I told myself, turning away from my temptation. "No way am I going to—"

My stomach growled angrily in protest. I looked back at the trashcan. The more I thought about it, the more the idea sickened me. But the more I looked at it, the more tantalizing the option became. Heck, the odor didn't seem to bother me any longer. Compared to everything else I'd been through over the past twenty-four hours, what was a little garbage?

I shook my head and sighed. "I am going to regret this," I muttered under my breath. Giving myself a good lead, I ran at the trashcan, slamming into it with authority. However, it didn't even tip over. Angrily, I lined myself up again, when suddenly…

"Hey, what's the big idea?"

I was so shocked that I fell over backward. _D-d-did that trashcan just talk?_ I quickly disregarded that thought. Even if I was a Pokemon, there was no way that an inanimate object could talk. Could it?

As if to confirm my sentiment, a head popped up above the rim of the can. He bared a striking semblance to a bulldog with two fangs protruding out from underneath the lower lip. _Crap, a Snubbull_. I remembered how my old neighbor once had one. It was a nasty little thing, always digging holes and snapping at my Skitty. I was gratefully when the man moved away.

This Snubbull looked around the alleyway angrily, trying to find the intruder who had disturbed his slumber. Then, of course, he spotted me. For a moment, he just stared at me angrily, trying to intimidate me. However, I stood my ground firmly, not letting fear get the better of me.

Finally, he spoke to me. "What's the big idea? Why did you wake me up?" he asked me bitterly.

"Hello, there…" I began, trying to be friendly. "I was wondering, it wasn't a problem with you, if I could…"

He didn't even let me finish. "No." And with that, he pulled his head back into his can, no longer wishing to talk to me.

I sighed and walked away. _Well, it was worth a try_, I figured. However, my stomach disagreed with me. My hunger pains were growing progressively worse. Then, of course, there was my injured leg. I still couldn't put my full weight on my back leg. Gingerly, I limped out of the alley and onto the streets of the city.

I figured that being a Pokemon would earn me some sort of sympathy from people. However, that wasn't the case. Most people didn't seem to take any notice of me. They were too preoccupied with their own trivial matters, talking on their cellphones or walking to their jobs. No one seemed to care for a poor, starving Eevee.

Just then, my nose picked up on a scent. Not just any scent though. Food. I didn't even notice that I had begun to drool in anticipation. I hurried as fast my short legs could carry me, following my nose through the throngs of people until…yes, I found it!

A man in a business suit was sitting on a bench reading a newspaper, apparently waiting for the bus. A briefcase sat on the ground next to his feet. But that's not I was focused on. Sitting next to him was a brown paper bag. And the best part: he wasn't paying any attention to it whatsoever! Looking around to make sure no one spotted me, I slowly snuck toward the bench. I could already taste the wonderful food that attracted me to that very spot. Just when I reached out to snatch the bag…

"Mommy! Look at that Eevee."

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a little girl walking past with her mother, trying to point me out to her preoccupied mother. Desperately, I drew my front paw across my throat, trying to tell her to be quiet. However, this only seemed to further enthrall her.

"Mommy, that Eevee is funny!" she exclaimed cheerfully, tugging at her mom's dress in an attempt to garner her attention. "You're not even looking!"

"Yes, yes. I see," the mom responded, not even bothering to lift her eyes toward me. "Come on, Kayla. We need to get you to school." With that, the mom took the now sulking little girl by the hand and led her away.

I let out a sigh of relief. _That was too close_. Quickly, I turned back to the bench and tried to collect my prize. My paw just touched the bag when the man put down his newspaper and turned to grab his lunch, spotting me in the process. "Damn it," I cursed under my breath. Quickly, I withdrew my paw from his bag.

The man looked over me for a moment. He wasn't that old, probably not even thirty yet. He had a short, well-trimmed goatee, counterintuitive to his long, messy black hair. I couldn't tell if he was mad at me, or just surprised to find me pawing at his lunch. His face refused to yield any emotion toward me. I solemnly turned away from him, not wanting to cause him any trouble. Thoughts ran through my head, not about where I could find food, but _if_ I could find food.

But then, much to my surprise, I felt a tap on the back of my neck. I turned around to find the man reaching into his brown paper bag. _No way_, I thought to myself. He pulled out a small parcel wrapped in rice paper. As he unwrapped it, I could smell that heavenly aroma that could only be associated with good food. I closed my eyes, letting the aromas further entice me. It smelt so good. And it seemed so close. I opened my eyes…

There before me was the man, whom just moments before I had nearly stolen from, offering me half of a sandwich. I looked at the sandwich, then at the man. He just smiled at me, giving me the impression that he was being sincere in his action. He wasn't mad at me.

Gratefully, I took the sandwich from his hand and wolfed it down in only a few bites. I ate it so fast that I didn't get a particular idea what it actually consisted of. But never had such a small amount of food been so gratifying. My body wanted more, but I had to suppress myself. This man had done a great service to me, giving up part of his own lunch to satisfy my own need. The last thing I needed was to let my greed get the better of me. "Thank you," I said to him. I knew that he couldn't understand what I said, but I felt that it would be rude not to thank him.

The man reached out and scratched behind me ears. I flinched at first, because it was so unexpected. But that was quickly replaced by a feeling of bliss. My legs nearly gave way under me. I let out a content sigh. Now I knew why Pokemon were so happy to have to ears scratched. It just felt so good. I looked up at him. He just smiled back at me, happy to see that I was enjoying it.

A loud groan of gears filled my ears. I turned around and saw that a bus had pulled up in front of our bench. I realized that this was reason he was sitting there in the first place. The man looked down at me and shook his head. I could tell that he really didn't wish to leave either. He reached down and picked up his briefcase and lunch.

Before boarding, he bent down one last time and petted me on my head. "Take care little one," I heard him whisper to me before he stood up and got onto the bus. I tried to follow, but the doors slammed shut in my face. The bus driver hadn't taken notice of me. Not like I expected him to, but still. The bus shifted gears and I watched sadly as it drove away.

********

I sat in the shade of a large oak tree in the park. For past few hours, I made my way through the streets of the city. I searched for someone to keep me company in some way. However, not one person showed me the same kindness that one man had. By the afternoon, I solemnly made my way into the park.

As with most parks in cities, the park is quite large. There are numerous playing fields, often in use for some sort of competition whether friendly or competitive. The park's many trails were always occupied by jogging aficionados, cyclists, and people on roller blades. Trees are plentiful and serve to provide shade to the park's occupants, as well as shelter a plethora of tree-based Pokemon.

I observed a young boy throwing a Frisbee around with his pet Zigzagoon, a brown-and-white striped raccoon which had a tendency to run in (surprise, surprise) zigzags. The boy would toss the flying disk a fair distance, so far ahead of Zigzagoon that I always thought that it wouldn't be able to catch up with it. But every single time, the spunky creature was able to catch up with it and either pull off a spectacular catch, or a just as spectacular duff. There was one that I particularly enjoyed when it jumped up, only to be clunked in the head by the Frisbee. But both boy and Pokemon took the miscue in stride though, and they went on playing for what seemed like hours.

By the time the twosome left, it had gotten fairly late. The sun began to sink behind the skyscrapers nearby. My focus returned to my own issues. There was, after all, the new challenge of finding shelter. I considered staying in the park for the night. But the thought of all the nighttime activities that I knew took place quickly drove me away. I gingerly made my way out of the park, cursing angrily under my breath with each step.

Not far from the park, I found a large, unoccupied cardboard box sitting in an alley. As I settled down, I thought about what I should do next. Finding a permanent shelter was tops on my list. I couldn't just spend my days going between every cardboard box within a five-mile radius. No, what I needed was an actual building. Four walls, a floor, and a roof. Of course, there were other comforts that would certainly be appreciated, but just to have the basic structure would be enough. I laid my head down as I drifted into a fantasy world, leaving my troubles behind…

"We're getting close. Her scent's stronger than ever."

This quickly snapped me out of my fantasy. _Her?_ Praying that they weren't talking about me, I withdrew further back into my cardboard box, hoping to stay out of sight of whoever was out there.

"You sure, boss? I can't smell anything…"

"Trust me. When you've done this for as long as I have, you know when you're close."

I listened as the voices drew nearer and nearer to my box. The closer they got, the more scared I became. Two sets of legs came into view outside of the box. But they weren't human legs; they were long, black canine legs. I began to shiver in fear of what would happen if they found me.

"Hey, what's that?"

"What?"

"That box. It's shaking."

Oh no! I was shaking too much! I watched helplessly as one of the sets of legs came slinking over toward the box. Desperately, I tried to think about what I could do. The back of the box! The legs stopped at the entrance of my box. Slowly, a head came into view. First, a gray, drool-soaked muzzle sniffed around my box. Then, a pair of yellow-and-red eyes peered inside. A sinister scar ran down the right side of his face. I was now staring into the face of a large, fierce-looking Mightyena.

A smile came across the canine's face. "Hello, poppet," he sneered. He licked his chops in anticipation of whatever he had planned next.

Of course, I didn't plan on sticking around to find out what that was. I broke through the back of the box, out in the alley once again. Without looking back, I ran as fast as I could away from the Mightyena. Suddenly, something smashed into the back of my head. I let out a cry of pain as I was sent sprawling across the ground. They had obviously hit me with some sort of attack. Whatever it was, it was strong. My head felt as though it was about to crack open.

As I tried to stand, a second Mightyena leapt over me and blocked my path. I glanced back toward the way I came. The Mightyena who had entered my box was now out and stood between the streets and myself. I was trapped.

"Heh-heh-heh," the Mightyena with a scar chuckled. "You've got nowhere to go do you?" He began to draw closer to where I stood.

"What do you want?" I demanded, constantly looking between the two Mightyena. The pain in my head was getting worse.

He grinned menacingly. "We're just looking for a little…fun," he said in a mocking kind voice. Both he and his partner sneered and stalked closer and closer to where I stood.

The pain in my head was unbearable and a wave of panic surged through my body. I shut my eyes and cried, just wishing for it to end. "HELP!"

Suddenly, there was a rush of wind and a yelp of pain, followed by the crash of a body into metal. I opened my eyes. At the end of the alley, a new large creature stood tall, enshrouded in the darkness. He had taken the place of the scarred Mightyena. He sent the Dark-type crashing into the trashcans by the box I'd been in only moments before.

The Mightyena dragged himself to his feet and growled angrily at the intruder. "You," he snapped bitterly. "What do you want?" His protégé joined him to provide support.

The newcomer said nothing, drawing closer to the Mightyena. Neither one of them looked like they wanted to stand up to him. At last, they conceded defeat and meekly made their way out to the streets. The creature watched them carefully as they made their way out of the alley.

All of a sudden, my vision started to get blurry, and I couldn't keep steady on my feet. I felt my legs give way. Then, everything went black.


	3. Chapter 2: Soru

**A/N: Hey all, it's PH again. Much to my own surprise, I find that I'm getting this story out at a pretty steady rate. Unfortunately, this has meant that I'm neglecting my other works. So if it ends up being a while before I post the next chapter, understand that I'm working on my other fics (which you are free to read and review as well). I am hoping to release a few more chapters of this story here before taking it over to Serebii and Bulbagarden.**

**As I've said, this is my first time using the first person POV, which does present a slight problem for me. Telling the story from the first person limits what I am able to do, especially if I limit the view to just one character. So, taking a trick I've seen in both books and fan fics, I will have another character's perspective on the story. Changes in POV within chapters will be represented by the horizontal ruler. I wish to refrain from labeling every change, but if it does come down to it, I will.**

**When I posted the last chapter, I said that I would come to a decision about whether or not I would accept OC's in this story by the time I posted this chapter. Well, after some thought, I've decided that, for the time being, I will not be accepting OC's, only because I already have a storyline planned out with most of the necessary characters. However, this is not a final decision. Keep an eye on the Author's Notes in upcoming chapters, as well as my profile, for any calls for characters.**

**Speaking of my profile, I've set up a little poll there, involving our dear friend Amber. Basically, I'm just seeing what the readers believe will happen to her in the future. The results will probably not influence the events of the story, but they could play a role in possible future stories. **

**...I should probably shut up now and let you read. That is, if you haven't already skimmed over this and are now somewhere in the middle of the fourth paragraph. So, enjoy.**

**Chapter 2: Soru**

The first thing that I was aware of was the pounding pain in my head. It felt like with every heartbeat my head was about to burst open. The light trying to pierce my eyelids certainly didn't help matters, seeming to just further enthrall the pain. I shifted my head away from the light, burying my face in my pillow…

Wait. A pillow? My eyes snapped open. Sure enough, I found myself facedown in a comfortable, overstuffed pillow. A little confused, I lifted my head out of the soft depths of the pillow. _What the…?_ Instead of the cold and dank alleyway I had blacked out in, I was laying on a small bed in a room.

Silently, I glanced around the room. There was not much to look at. The white walls were plain and barren, save for one large print on the wall opposite my bed. A small nightstand accompanied my bed on my right, a quaint arrangement of flowers sitting upon it. Also on my right, there was a window looking out upon the city.

Just then, I heard the creak of a door opening on the other side of the room. A large, quadrupedal creature stood in the doorway. His dark blue-gray body was covered with thick pure-white fur, save for his face and a single oval-shaped spot on his forehead. A sickle-shaped growth protruded from his head and his scythe-like tail looked as if it were ready to slice anything that happened to get close.

_An Absol_, I thought to myself, looking over the creature. I remember the stories that I heard about these creatures. Absols were said to bring disasters everywhere they went. While I never truly believed those stories, the appearance of this Absol was certainly ominous. Silently, I watched as he walked toward my bed.

"It's nice to see you awake," the Absol said. His voice was so soft and deep that I wouldn't have heard it if it weren't for my enhanced hearing. He sat down on the floor at the foot of my bed. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine," I replied. "My head's just killing me though." I looked him over. Something about this creature seemed familiar. Then, it hit me. "Wait, are you…"

"…the one that drove off the Mightyena?" he finished, anticipating my question. I nodded my head. "Yes, that was me. My name is Soru."

"Nice to meet you, Soru," I said. Really, it was nice to meet my savior. "Where am I?"

"The Pokemon Center."

Of course, the Pokemon Center. I guess that it was a logical place to bring me, especially after falling unconscious. Only once before had I come to the Pokemon Center in the city. It was the time my Skitty had gotten sick and needed some special treatment that the local Pokemon Center couldn't provide. I figured that I must be in one of the recovery rooms. That's why I couldn't recognize where I was.

An acute pain shot through my head, causing me to cringe. "What happened last night?"

"My master and I were out for a walk when I heard the commotion," Soru began.

"Wait, you have a master?" I interrupted, making sure I heard him right. He glared up me, somewhat perturbed by my interruption. "I…I'm sorry about that."

Soru sighed. "No, it's okay," he conceded. "Anyway, as soon as I heard the commotion, I ran as fast as I could. When I got there, you were on the ground in a great deal of pain. Thankfully, I drove them off before they…did it." He said the last two words so quickly that I scarcely heard them.

I tilted my head to the side. "Did it?" I asked. "You mean…kill me?"

Soru shook his head. "They did not have any intention of killing you," he said quietly. "No, the leader was looking to mate with you."

I was taken aback. "W-w-what!?" I stuttered, shocked by what Soru just said. "M-mate with me?"

He nodded solemnly. "Yes. Late spring is the time of year when male Mightyena find mates," he clarified. "They can become fairly aggressive and, whenever they find a female in heat…well, let's just say that the female really doesn't have much of a choice."

I couldn't comprehend what I was just told. One day as a Pokemon and I was nearly raped by a hormone-driven, perverted canine. Had Soru not shown up when he did…I didn't want to think about the consequences. And I didn't even realize I was in heat. I would've thought I would notice something like _that_.

I buried my head into the pillow and started to cry. It was bad enough that I had no idea how to actually live like a Pokemon, but then to have someone try to take advantage of you like that was too much.

I heard light footsteps approach the bed. "It's alright," Soru's voice quietly assured me. "You're safe. No one's going to hurt you."

I looked up from the pillow. Soru was sitting on the floor near the head of my bed, trying to console me. Even though he was a fairly intimidating figure, especially since he was so much larger than I was, I didn't feel scared. Something about him seemed to persuade me that he was serious. I think it was his eyes. His reddish-brown eyes seemed to emanate with comfort and understanding. I found myself getting lost in the depths of those eyes.

Just then, I heard the door creak open again. Two people entered the room talking to each other. The first was a young woman with flamboyant red-orange hair arranged in such a way that seemed to defy gravity. She wore the standard all-white nurse's outfit and hat with a cross on it. I recognized her as Nurse Joy. A Nurse Joy ran every Pokemon Center in the country, and every single one of them looked the same. They were all somehow related, but who was whose cousin or sister-in-law or whatever other relation I cannot tell you.

The second person seemed strangely familiar. The young man wore a gray T-shirt and worn-in jeans, but that's not what had my attention. A messy mass of black hair. A well-trimmed goatee. I let out an involuntary gasp. It was that man from yesterday; the one who had given me half his sandwich.

The man happened to look over toward the bed and saw me awake. He smiled as he walked over, the same smile on his face yesterday at the bench. "It's nice to see you awake," he said to me. I felt his fingers scratch the area behind my ears, providing the same satisfying feeling I had experienced that previous encounter. I heard myself purr with pleasure.

He then turned his attention to Soru. He didn't say anything to the Absol. Rather, they just stared at each other for a brief moment. Then, with a curt nod, the man walked back over to Nurse Joy and they continued with their conversation.

I looked back over to Soru. "What was that about?" I inquired. Soru didn't give an answer. Private matters, I guess. "So he's your master?"

"Yes," he confirmed, "Kirk is my master."

"Kirk? That's his name?"

Soru nodded silently. I looked over toward the man. He must have just said something amusing, as Nurse Joy was laughing in a lighthearted manner. It was then that I noticed that a new figure had entered the room. A large, pink creature with a pouch occupied by an egg squeezed her way through the door with a tray occupied by two bowls. She hobbled over to my on her short stubby legs. This was, of course, Nurse Joy's ever-present assistant, Chansey.

"Good morning," Chansey greeted me cheerfully. "I've brought you some breakfast." She placed the tray down in front of me. Pokemon food and water. I guess I should've expected this.

"Uh…thanks," I replied sheepishly. The Chansey just smiled at me before making her way back out of the room, off to tend to some other patient. I looked over the tray with slight discontent. However, my stomach was begging me for any sort of sustenance. Well, if I was going to be a Pokemon, I better learn to eat like a Pokemon. Hesitantly, I leaned into the food bowl and nibbled at the tiny morsels of food.

_Hmm…not bad_, I contemplated. Not bad was an understatement. It was great. I let myself take in the flavors. For such a small morsel, it sure had an intricate taste. Not one flavor seemed to overpower the other. It was just about the perfect concoction of food for me. Without any further trepidation, I pounced onto my meal.

Soru watched with mild amusement. "I'm guessing you haven't eaten for a while," he said. I lifted my head from the bowl to nod my head in confirmation of this perception before returning to the meal at hand. "I thought so…" He sat patiently through my chow session, perhaps waiting to talk to me again.

It didn't take me long to polish off the bowl of food, as well as drinking up most of my water. I laid back on my bed and let out a content sigh. For the first time in what seemed like ages, I felt full. The demons of hunger in my stomach had been vanquished.

Nurse Joy noticed I had finished my meal and collected the used-up dishes. While she took care of that, Kirk came over to my bed and sat down beside me. He gave me some more of those nice ear scratches and spoke soft words of endearment.

Nurse Joy returned with a tiny paper cup and a tiny shot glass of water. It turned out that the cup contained a pink liquid, which she said was a painkiller, meant to treat my headaches. It was a good thing: the pain had been slowing progressing in intensity since I had awakened. I took the medicine in one gulp, which I immediately regretted. The stuff tasted like chalk. Luckily, Nurse Joy didn't hesitate in letting me have a drink of water to wash it down.

After Nurse Joy stood up to continue her conversation with Kirk, Soru approached my bedside again. "Might I ask your name?" he inquired. "I have yet to hear you mention it."

Right, I never actually introduced myself to Soru. "My name's Amber," I replied as I made myself comfortable again. The medication I had taken was making me very drowsy.

Soru gave a curt nod as he ingrained my name to memory. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Amber," he said.

My eyelids started to get heavier. I let out a drawn-out yawn. Yep, there was definitely something in that medicine. Nurse Joy and Kirk seemed to notice that I was about to fall asleep and silently made their way out the door.

Soru hesitated for a moment. "Take care, Amber," he whispered to me before he followed the humans out of the room. At this point, my eyes gave in to the drowsiness and I fell into a quiet, peaceful sleep.

* * *

I know that I just met her for the first time, but there's something different about Amber. Many, both human and Pokemon alike, are taken aback whenever I appear, thanks to the bigoted belief that my kind is the bringer of disaster. Even when I have just done something good for them, they are hesitant to accept me.

But Amber, she didn't seem afraid by my appearance. Sure, she had probably heard the cautionary tales from her parents and there's no doubt she was nervous. Yet, she didn't look upon my like I was some servant of Beelzebub. Actually, I think she looked at me like a hero. The whole concept was strange. But I guess when you are in the situation she was, anyone that is there to help automatically becomes a savior.

I peeked into her room through the crack of the door. Amber was fast asleep, probably one of the side effects of whatever medication Nurse Joy gave her. Silently, I watched her chest rise and fall with each life-sustaining breath she took into her lungs. The morning sunlight shone down upon her sleeping figure, giving her an almost angelic appearance.

As I looked upon this scene, I felt a strange sensation beneath my breast. It wasn't bad, mind you. Just strange, something I could never recall feeling before in all my life. My heart ached with a deep yearning for something. But what I didn't know. There's a name for this I know, but what it is I cannot remember.

"Soru, come here."

Kirk called for me from out in the reception area. After taking another brief moment to view the scene before, I obeyed my master and hastily made my way to the reception area.

"…Concussion-like symptoms and an injured rear right leg."

"Definitely sounds like she got roughed up quite a bit. Can't the police do something about those wild Mightyena?"

"Every time they do, those Pokemon rights activist intervene."

I spotted Kirk and Nurse Joy conversing over at her desk. I made my way over and sat down attentively next to Kirk.

"So there are no reports of a missing Eevee?" Kirk asked.

Nurse Joy shook her head. "Not that I could find," she said in reply, "and she doesn't have any form of identification on her."

Kirk started to rub the hairs on his chin. "That is pretty unusual," he conceded. "What do you normally do with a Pokemon in this situation?"

"It's on a case-by-case basis of course. Sometimes, if a Pokemon suffered injuries that will prevent them from leading a normal life again, we will put them down…"

My heart skipped a beat. _Put them down?_ I almost panicked. Were they going to put her down right after she just woke up? Immediately, my mind began concocting high-risk, movie-style plans to break Amber out of the Pokemon Center.

"…However, in this case, we will probably put her up for adoption once she has fully recovered."

As soon as Nurse Joy said that, my mind was at ease. _They weren't going to put her down_, I thought happily to myself. I don't think I would've forgiven myself if they went ahead and put her down. _Damn Mightyena_. It wasn't the first time I had trouble with them. Before I met Kirk, I had numerous encounters with them. The last one had left me in truly bad shape and, had it not been for Kirk, I probably wouldn't have survived.

He glanced down at me. For some strange reason, I think that Kirk can read my thoughts through my eyes. He's always said he could read me like a book. Whether that is true or not, I think Kirk could sense what I hoped he would do.

Kirk gave me a nod and a wink, then turned back to Nurse Joy. "If it is no trouble with you," he said, "I would like to adopt Eevee."

"Of course," Nurse Joy answered cheerfully. "Although you will have to allow for a few days of recovery time and observations. Just to make sure she didn't suffer any other injuries."

Kirk nodded. "That's fine with me," he conceded. "I will probably need a few days to make sure I have things ready at my apartment for a new occupant." And with that, he turned toward the doors. "Come on, Soru," he called back to me.

Of course, I wanted to stay to make sure Amber would be all right. However, I trusted that Nurse Joy would take good care of her. And so with great reluctance, I followed Kirk out of the Pokemon Center onto the unforgiving streets of the city.


	4. Chapter 3: A New Life

**A/N: Well, I'm back. As usual, I've been busy. Today we had a field trip to the National Air and Space Museum, and tomorrow begins workshops for my high school's musical _42nd Street_. Now, if I could only learn to tap dance.**

**If I'm posting here, it means one thing: Chapter 3 is complete. It took me a while to get into the flow of writing this, but once I did, it kinda came out. I really don't have much to say, so as usual all comments and reviews are appreciated. And now...**

**Chapter 3: A New Life**

For the next few days, not much happened. According to Nurse Joy, I was being held for "observations." I wasn't allowed to go anywhere in the Pokemon Center without supervision, for fear that I may further injure my leg trying to overexert myself. Then there was that medicine that I kept taking to treat my headaches. Almost as soon as I took it, I was easily zonked out for the next few hours. While I appreciated her concern for my health, it's no exaggeration for me to say that it was the most boring time in my life.

Kirk and Soru visited me often, mostly after Kirk had gotten home from work. Kirk would come in and give me a few pets and perhaps an ear scratch or two. As he did so he would whisper some words of endearment. He would also, much to chagrin of Nurse Joy, sneak in these yummy chocolate treats. I don't know why it is, but chocolate tastes different from when I was human. Perhaps it is because of my enhanced senses that allowed for me to pick up on even the subtlest of tastes.

Even though Kirk's company was nice, I found a little more enjoyment in talking with Soru, probably because he was pretty much the only one I could communicate with. At first though, Soru didn't seem to keen on talking to me after our first encounter. He kept himself at a distance from my bed, not even daring to look toward me. Gradually, though, he became more comfortable, eventually sitting at the foot of my bed.

Most of the time, I was the one instigating the conversation, trying to get him involved. But when he did speak, I was fascinated by what he would say. Like this time where we were talking about the weather. Apparently it had been miserable since I had checked in to the Pokemon Center. Soru told me that his species could pick up on the subtle changes in the atmosphere that often preceded a shift in the weather patterns and could tell if a storm was approaching.

We didn't just talk about the weather though. Soru also gave me some background about Kirk. I learned from him that Kirk was a young bachelor who just recently got out of post-graduate school. Apparently, he was working to become a lawyer and recently began to work at his father's law firm. Unfortunately, Soru wasn't able to tell me much about the logistics of his work. That was understandable though, since Pokemon really have no need to concern themselves with the human legal system.

However, there were things that I wasn't able to coax out of Soru. Whenever I asked about his past, he quickly changed the subject. I decided not to further probe about the subject. It was his personal after all. If he wished to discuss it, I would be willing to listen. That being said, I didn't tell him about all that had happened to me either. It's not that I didn't trust him; I just wasn't sure that he would believe what had happened. The last thing I wanted to do was lose the trust of one of the only creatures that I could communicate with.

Near the end of my stay, I was feeling much better. I was no longer having those painful headaches that were a result from an apparent concussion. It also didn't hurt to walk on my back leg anymore. But as my health improved, a new worry came to my mind. What were they going to do with me once I was fully healed? I brought this up with Soru during one of our conversations.

Much to my surprise, he had a small smile on his face. "Don't worry about that," he assured me. "Kirk plans on taking you in once you're given a clean bill of health. That is…if you have nowhere else to go."

I didn't know how to react. There was a sense of excitement of course. This meant I wouldn't have to live out on the streets and forge for food, or deal with the mating patterns of a certain canine. I would have shelter, a roof over my head to protect me from the elements.

But at the same time, I couldn't help feeling that by letting myself be taken into this man's household, I would be permanently giving up my humanity. Plus, I really didn't know Kirk and Soru. Were they really as benevolent as they seemed, or was this some guise veiling their true nature?

"Are you okay, Amber?" Soru inquired. Obviously, he was concerned by my lack of response.

"Yes, I'm fine," I replied, not looking Soru directly in the eye. "Just a little surprised, that's all." Soru's concern for me seemed genuine. I think may have been the deciding factor. I decided that I would live with Kirk and Soru, at least until I could figure out a way to become human again. Perhaps I would even come to enjoy being an Eevee. I had to hold back a chuckle. _As if…_

Two days later, I was given a clean bill of health from Nurse Joy. Kirk and Soru were waiting for me out in the reception area, ready to escort me to my new home. From what Soru told me, they lived in an apartment building not far from where I had first met Kirk. So I would be living in some bachelor pad. Well, it was better than living on the streets.

The apartment was not too far away from the Pokemon Center, so we just walked there rather than catch a taxi or a bus. The weather had greatly improved from what Soru had been describing, the humidity seeming to have dissipated with the last rainstorm. Kirk led our party down the sidewalks, myself closely following behind him. Soru voluntarily took position at the rear of the group.

During our walk, I began to take in the city from a new perspective. It was certainly different seeing the world through the eyes of an Eevee. Everything and everyone seemed to tower over my short stature. My new acute sense of smell allowed me to pick up on a number of odors that I would have never taken in as a human. Not that every odor was pleasant, but it was certainly an interesting feature that I would have to get used to. My ears seemed more alert to the many sounds of the city. There were the usual city noises, of course, but I was also picking up on some of the more subtle reverberations that most humans would not hear, such as the scurrying of the feet of the city Pokemon hidden in the alleys.

I glanced back at Soru. His head always seemed to be on the swivel, on the watch for something. He seemed a bit uptight, so I decided it was probably best not to talk to him. But when he happened to look in my direction, I gave him a cordial smile to show him some kindness. He responded with a curt nod and grunt before returning to his self-appointed watch duty.

After about fifteen minutes or so of walking, Kirk came to a stop. "Well, here we are," he said, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. Soru and I took up positions on either side of him. We were now standing in front of an apartment building.

The outer façade of the building was of red brick and mortar, blending it into the older buildings in the surrounding area. Yet it bared the marks of a recent construction, probably built within the last five or so years as part of the previous mayor's petition to improve the city's residential buildings. My eyes traced up the side of the building, trying to count to count the number of floors.

"Thirteen."

Soru surprised me with his answer. I looked around Kirk's legs at him. "Excuse me?" I inquired.

"There are thirteen floors in this apartment," Soru answered. "You were just trying to count them, right?"

I nodded and turned my eyes back to the building. Sure enough, there were thirteen floors. _The architect must've had a sick sense of humor_, I thought to myself. In all seriousness, why construct a building with thirteen floors? It didn't make any sense. Then again, most things people do don't make sense.

While I was contemplating this, Kirk and Soru were making their way in through the door. Not wanting to be left behind, I hastily followed. I just squeezed my way through the door and thought that I was in the clear. However, I had forgotten about one important part of my new anatomy: my tail.

The door clamped down upon my tail. The sudden sharp pain of the nerves being pinched caused me to let out a yelp. I tried to pull it out myself, but that only caused it to hurt worse. I had to restrain myself from crying. Luckily, Kirk and Soru heard me and ran over to see if I was all right. Soru stood to the side, shaking his head in pity while Kirk opened the door and freed my tail from its trap.

"Not used to having a tail?" Soru inquired rhetorically.

"Not really," I replied without even realizing the sarcasm in his voice. He looked down at me somewhat perplexed by what I meant, but he didn't inquire further.

The lobby of the apartment building was fairly nice. At one end of the room there was a collection of chairs and a large overstuffed sofa. There were racks with the current day's newspapers stack inside, waiting for someone to take them. A coffee machine stood on an end table, ready to provide any resident with a morning pick-me-up. We walked past the residential manager's desk, Kirk giving a curt nod to the man behind the desk. I wasn't able to see his face, as it was obscured behind his newspaper.

On the opposite side of the lobby, we boarded an elevator, myself being careful not to catch my tail in the doors. We were fortunate enough to get an elevator to ourselves, but it wasn't surprising, since it was the middle of the day. Most of the occupants were spending their time outside in the glorious weather. I was gratefully for this amenity to be available so I wouldn't have to climb all those stairs.

"Hey Soru," I whispered, tugging gently on his ruff around his neck, much like a little kid tugging on their parent's pants leg when they wish to garner their attention. "What floor…?"

"Seventh floor," he responded before I could even finish asking my question. "Room 702." He didn't even bother to look down at me.

The floor lurched upward beneath me as the elevator groaned to life, causing me to lose balance. Our ride was fairly silent, thankfully lacking the cliché elevator music most facilities would play in their elevators. The only noise that I could recollect was the low hum of the elevator trudging its weight plus ours upward against gravity.

We reached our destination without having the make any other stops along the way. The elevator doors slid open and we disembarked. I found myself in a long, carpeted hallway. It had that hotel vibe to it, with the many doors making indents in the walls. Each door had the standard brass knocker and nameplate engraved with the apartment's number. Room 718. Nope, not it.

I looked around only to realize that Soru and Kirk were no longer standing next to me. Luckily, they hadn't gotten fair, only to the end of the hallway. I hustled over to catch up with them, only doing so when they had stopped in front of one of the doors. I caught a glimpse of the nameplate. Room 702. Yep, this was it.

Kirk pulled a set of keys out of his pocket, fumbling through them trying to find the right one. "I swear, I can never…ah-ha! Here it is!" He slid the key into the accompanying hole and, with a twist of the key and click of the lock, the door creaked open. "Here we are. Home, sweet home."

In a gentlemanly manner, he held the door open for Soru and I, gesturing for us to enter first. Soru walked by his master without acknowledging him. I, on the other hand, thanked him properly, even though I knew all he could hear was a simply "vee" or something to that extent. Kirk smiled as I walked past and entered the room, shutting the door behind me.

For a bachelor's pad, Kirk's apartment was surprisingly well kept. I was able to walk around on the carpeted floors without tripping over any hazards. The main living area consisted of your basic television, chairs, and loveseat compilation. There was also a large pillow sitting on the floor on one side of the loveseat. I hazarded a guess that it was Soru's bed. Much like the rest of the room, it was well kept and bared little sign that it had been slept on.

I was about to explore the rest of the apartment when there was a knock at the door. Kirk, who had just shut the door behind me, grumbled a little as he went to open the door. His mood changed immediately when he saw who had been knocking at his door. "Alex!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Come on in!"

Two figures walked into the room. The first was a tall young man, about the same age as Kirk. He was dressed in a plain white polo shirt and khaki shorts. I assumed that he was Alex. Following close behind was an interesting creature. He had a humanoid resemblance, but at the same time he was far from human. For one, his entire body was green, save for his arms and a few other spots, which were instead an aqua hue. Then there was the large lilypad on the top of his head. Yep, he was your typical Lombre for those of you who couldn't decipher my explanation.

Kirk and Alex started talking to each other about some matters. As they talked, the Lombre walked over toward me. "Hola, chica," he greeted me cheerfully. "You haven't seen…ah, there he is. Hola, Soru!"

Soru had just come out of one of the rooms behind me. He spotted the Lombre and reluctantly walked over. "Nice to see you, Paco," he replied. I don't think he was all too thrilled to see him over at the moment.

"Hey, hombre, why the long face?" Paco chided, playfully punching Soru on the top of his shoulder. "Come on, let's see a smile."

I decided to leave the two of them to their own business. "If either of you are looking for me, I'll be checking out the rest of the apartment," I told them, heading toward the kitchen. Soru nodded politely to my request. However, Paco began to eye me curiously, making me very uncomfortable. I broke eye contact with him and left room, wondering what else the apartment held for me.

* * *

I watched as Amber left the room. She seemed to have hastened her exit when she had made eye contact with Paco. Frankly, I don't blame her. You could say that Paco and I were friends, but we weren't all that close. Paco's master Alex had long been friends with my master, but I only just met Paco after I started living with Kirk. We were polar opposites. Where as I was reserved and quiet, Paco was outgoing and boisterous.

"Yo, hombre," Paco spoke up as I was thinking. "What is with la chica?"

It took me a second to understand what Paco was asking. He sometimes mixed in words of this strange language into what he said, making conversing with him impossible at times. "Oh, you mean Amber?" I asked, guessing that was whom he was referring to.

"Yeah, yeah, the Eevee," he replied. "I've never seen her before. She living with you now?"

I nodded in confirmation. "Kirk just adopted her," I replied. I explained to him about the incident a few nights ago.

All Paco could do was shake his head. "Man, hombre, that's rough," he said. "At least she didn't get…you know."

I nodded absentmindedly, not really hearing the last few things he said. I was too preoccupied by thoughts of the last few days. Whenever we went to visit Amber at the Pokemon Center, I always felt nervous. There wasn't any reason to be, of course. I knew she was going to be fine and all. But every time I would enter her room, I would suddenly become uptight.

I kept myself far away from her bed, never too keen to talk. However, Amber was insistent on talking to me. I guess she must have been really bored if she wanted to talk to me. Yet to my surprise, she seemed quite interested in what I talked about, especially about my ability to foresee weather conditions. I guess I never considered it interesting myself, since I had grown accustomed to it over the years.

The more I talked to Amber, the more comfortable I became. I don't know what it was about her, but she seemed to have an aura about her that relaxed me. All those uptight feelings I had were quelled by her relaxed manner. However, there were things I refused to discuss with her. Anytime she would inquire about my past, I would quickly change the subject. Perhaps it was a little rude, but it was a topic that I did not wish to discuss.

"Yo, Earth to Soru. You still with us, hombre."

Paco brought me back to reality. "I…I'm sorry," I apologized. "I guess I was distracted…"

"Thinking about her?"

I was caught a little off-guard. "What?" I inquired, a little confused by what he meant.

"You know, Amber," he explained, pointing to the doorway she had just went through. "You're acting a little strange."

I gave Paco a queer look. "What would make you say that?"

"Oh…just the way you acted there," he replied. "You didn't seem to hear what I said, and you stared off in the direction she left. One and one adds up to dos, mi amigo."

For a moment, I considered correcting his last statement, but he had hit everything else dead on. "Yeah, I guess so…" I conceded. My cheeks began to feel a little bit warmish.

Paco chuckled. "Seems like someone has a little crush on the little chica there," he chided, elbowing me in my ribs playfully.

I recoiled in shock. "What!? Y-y-you think I have a crush on A-amber?" I stammered. My cheeks were now burning hot.

"Well, judging by your reaction and how bright red your cheeks are, then I would say so," he replied. "Give it up, hombre. You've pretty much given yourself away."

I sighed, conceding defeat. "I guess I do have a little crush on her," I admitted quietly. "There's just something about her that…"

"All right, all right!" Paco interrupted, laughing a little. "I don't want this to turn into a romance story! I just wanted you to admit you liked her."

After he said that, I felt a surge of anger build up in chest. Without a second thought, I lunged at Paco and pinned him against the wall. "Whatever you do, don't tell anyone," I snarled at him angrily. "Especially Amber."

Poor Paco was frightened by sudden shift in behavior. "Y-y-yes, I-I p-p-promise," he stuttered. His body was quivering violently.

Satisfied he was telling the truth, I released him. Immediately, the anger seemed to decamp from my chest. "I-I'm sorry, Paco," I apologized emphatically. "I don't know what came over me there."

Paco rubbed the back of his neck. "You really need to learn to take a joke, hombre," he said. He still seemed a little nervous over what had just happened.

"True," I admitted quietly. "I really shouldn't have done that."

Then, much to my surprise, Paco laughed. "It's all right," he assured me. "I probably shouldn't have pushed it as far as I did."

His acceptance of my apology caused me to relax some. Paco was never one to hold a grudge. "Thank you," I said. I started to walk over to the kitchen, where our masters were talking. Then I remembered something important. "You promise to not tell anyone about what I said?"

Paco nodded vigorously. "Don't worry," he promised. "Your secret is safe with me."

I thanked him again and walked toward the kitchen. _I really hope it is_, I thought to myself as I crossed the threshold into the kitchen.


	5. Chapter 4: Close Encounter

**Well, it's Inauguration Day. The day Barack Obama is sworn in as the first African-American President of the United States. But do you know what else today is? That's right. Today's the day I release a new chapter of _The Light in the Darkness_.**

**You may be wondering why it took me longer to get this chapter up when compared to the previous chapters. Well, long story short, I've been busy. Between _42nd Street_, school, and numerous other distractions, it has taken me a little time to finish things up. But now, I finally have this here for you to enjoy.**

**I want to thank everyone so far who has voted in the poll in my profile. After a few more chapters, I'll be taking it down and replacing it with something else, so if you haven't voiced your opinion yet, get over to my profile and vote.**

**Now I should just shut up and let you read. Enjoy, and don't be afraid to review, especially if you haven't already. I promise I won't bite.**

**Chapter 4: Close Encounter of the Unfriendly Kind **

While Kirk and Soru were distracted with Alex and Paco respectively, I went about finishing my personal tour of the apartment. My excursion took into my new caretaker's bedroom. I found that his bedroom, unlike the rest of his apartment, was a bit messy. He didn't have a dresser, choosing to keep his clean clothing in a few baskets normally used for clean clothing. His unmade bed sat on one side of the room, beneath the window. So far, this room was the only indication this place was a bachelor pad.

I leapt up onto the bed to take a look out the window. The view from the window wasn't too bad. Granted, the surrounding buildings obscured some of the scenery. However, I was able to make out the park in the distance, a soothing patch of green amongst a sea of concrete and steel. The bright midday sun shone brightly, its light reflecting off the windows of the skyscrapers in the distance. The sky was absolutely clear and even the usual daytime haze seemed to be lacking.

Suddenly, I heard the door creak open behind me. "There you are," a voice said behind me. I turned around and found Soru standing in the doorway. "Alex and Paco just left. Kirk's wondering where you had wandered off to."

"Thanks, Soru," I said. "I'll be out in a minute." I turned back to look out the window, continuing to view the outside world.

Soru must have considered it a little strange for someone to look out the window, given by what he said next. "What are you looking at out there?" he inquired.

"Oh, I'm just looking around," I replied without giving it a second thought. Soru said nothing in reply and I initially thought he had left. But I still felt his presence in the room. I looked back over my shoulder and found him still sitting in the doorway, staring at me. "What? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing," he answered quietly. "I'm just wondering what could be so fascinating to look at out there."

"Well, why don't you have a look for yourself?" I suggested, inviting him up next to me.

Soru hesitated for a moment, probably surprised by my suggestion, but in the end, he came up next to me. I slid over, giving him room to look out the window. He took a long look out. "So what exactly were you looking at outside?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I was just looking around that's all," I replied nonchalantly. "I guess I wanted to see where everything was around here."

"Yes, well it is nice to know where everything is," he agreed. With that, he jumped down off the bed. "Come on, Kirk will wonder what you are doing."

I nodded and leapt off the bed. "Race you to the kitchen," I shouted back to Soru as I rushed past him. He seemed a little surprised by enthusiasm, I guess.

The kitchen was fairly basic. There was a stovetop, refrigerator, microwave, and sink, the usual commodities in an apartment kitchen. A few cabinets hung on the wall, providing storage for both dishes and nonperishable foodstuffs. A small wooden table with two accompanying sat against one wall of the kitchen, papers strewn across the top of it.

I arrived first, much to Kirk's surprise. "Oh!" he exclaimed after almost tripping over me. "You startled me there." He looked toward where I had entered from to see Soru walk into the room. Kirk stared over toward him, locking eye-to-eye with the Absol. Neither of them said anything. It was almost as if they were communicating telepathically.

Almost suddenly, Kirk returned his attention to me. "You know," he said, addressing me specifically "we oughta come up with a name for you." He paused when he noticed my incredulous look. "I mean, I know you probably have a name you like to be called, but I don't know it and unfortunately, I don't think you can tell me."

I thought about it for a moment. He was right, of course. I couldn't tell him my real name, so I just had to hope he didn't give me a stupid name. I nodded, accepting his suggestion.

"All right then." He sat down in a small wooden chair he had in the kitchen, rubbing his chin. "How about Sara?"

I shook my head. I had known a girl in school who was named Sara. She was an absolute bitch and I wanted no association with that name.

"No?" Kirk inquired somewhat surprised. "Perhaps…Terra?"

_Eh…no_, I thought to myself. Not that I hated the name, but I just didn't think of myself as a Terra. Again, I shook my head.

"You're a tough one. How about Eve?"

I rolled my eyes. _Too cliché_, I thought to myself. I mean, naming an Eevee _Eve_? Again I shook my head in disagreement.

Kirk went on bouncing around names for what seemed like hours. Yet none of his suggestions seemed to work for me. I guess that after you are called one name all your life, you become very critical about what others call you. Soru had gotten bored and went out to the living area to take a nap.

Finally, Kirk snapped his fingers together. "I've got it!" he exclaimed. "Mana! How about Mana?"

I thought about it for a moment. It was a very unique suggestion. I couldn't recall hearing anyone else being called that. And for some reason, the name really appealed to me. _I guess I can live with being called Mana_, I concluded. _At least until I can somehow become human again_. I nodded to show my approval for the suggestion.

Kirk clapped his hands in victory. "Then it is settled," he exclaimed. "Well then, Mana, let's wake Soru up and go out for a walk."

So after awakening Soru, Kirk ushered the both of us out into the hallways. I noticed as we left that he had brought along a backpack. Why he did that I didn't know. Perhaps he needed to pick something up at the store. I didn't give it much thought after that, since it seem to be very important at the moment.

At first, Soru was confused by the fact that Kirk was addressing me as Mana, but he quickly caught on that it was Kirk's name for me. However, I told him that I still wished to be called Amber. I wasn't about to fully give up my former identity. Soru seemed to understand my sentiment and agreed to do so.

Our walk seemed to have no destination at first, but gradually, I began to recognize the streets we were traversing on. Mostly because they were the same streets that I myself had been wandering aimless on only days before. Soon enough, we found ourselves standing at the same entrance to the park I had gone through days earlier. _That explains the backpack_, I concluded. Kirk was taking us for a little day trip to the park. Well, I definitely didn't mind spending some more time outside. After all, I had been held idle at the Pokemon Center while I was rehabbing.

We entered the park and made our way toward the large open area where I had watched the boy tossing a Frisbee around with his Zigzagoon. There hadn't been many people in the park when I was last there. However that day, a few small pockets of people and Pokemon spread out across the area. Some had laid out blankets and were enjoying picnic lunches. Others were playing with their Pokemon, tossing a ball or other toy around. Still others were training their Pokemon, practicing new moves or battling against another trainer.

Kirk led our party to a nice spot on a grassy knoll by the woods. The trees provided a nice little bit of shade for us to relax in. Kirk took the backpack off his shoulders and set it on the ground. Soru walked up next to it and laid down, apparently ready to take a nap. As for myself, I had no idea what I was going to do. I looked out over the field at what over groups were doing.

"Hey Soru, Mana. Do you guys wanna play?"

I looked back at Kirk. He was fumbling through his backpack, searching for something. _Man, he's unorganized_, I thought to myself as I watched him struggle to find what he was after, remembering how he fumbled through his keys trying to get into his apartment. Finally, with a triumphant grin, he pulled out what he had been looking for: a red Frisbee. Soru, who had lifted his head to see what his master was looking for, buried his head into his forelegs upon seeing the Frisbee.

Kirk shook his head. "You're never one for fun," he conceded quietly. He turned his attention to me. "What about you, Mana? Do you wanna play?"

Truth be told, I hadn't been the most athletic person when I was human. I was somewhat clumsy when it came to sports, due to be unusually tall for my age. However, I figured that I could possibly be a little more athletically capable as a Pokemon. Not to mention that I really didn't want to disappoint Kirk. "You're on," I replied, once again ignoring the language barrier.

Kirk smiled. "All right then," he said as he winded up. "Go long!"

In one smooth motion, Kirk thrust the Frisbee skyward, gliding out into the distance against the clear blue sky. I chased after it, my neck craned skyward to keep the red dot in the sky within my sights. _Piece of cake_, I thought to myself. I was on an absolute perfect path to intercept the disk…

That was until the wind suddenly picked up. The Frisbee took a sharp turn to the left, throwing me way off course. I attempted to change direction quickly to pursue the disk. Unfortunately, I overcompensated and ended up tripping over my own feet, landing face-first on the ground. I looked up and, wouldn't you know it, the wind died down and the Frisbee landed only a few feet away from where I laid.

I groaned as I pulled myself back to my feet. _That was embarrassing_, I thought after having spotted the Frisbee sitting on the ground nearby. Trying my best to act as though nothing had happened, I picked up the Frisbee in my mouth and made the long walk back to Kirk.

Surprisingly, Kirk wasn't laughing about my miscue. He simply took the Frisbee from my mouth and smiled. "That was a good effort," he said assuredly, giving me a pat on the head. "The wind just got a hold of that one." That made me feel a little better. "Are you ready to give it another go?" I nodded. "Then here we go!"

He threw the Frisbee straight out, much like the last time. This time, I decided to stay behind, just in case the wind caused it to change course again. Luckily, I had nothing to worry about this time around. Once the Frisbee had descended within range, I instinctively leapt and chomped down on the plastic disk. I landed with all four feet on the ground, almost perfectly. I could hear Kirk give shout some sort of praise toward me. Triumphantly, I walked back to Kirk with the Frisbee.

We continued to play around like that for what seemed like hours. After making the first catch, I gradually became better at judging the path the Frisbee was going to take. Soru, who seemed disinterested in the whole affair, had lifted his head to watch us. Every time I came back after a catch, he would give me a curt nod and smile to acknowledge my effort, causing me to blush.

Then came the throw. At first, it started off like any other throw Kirk had launched that day, plenty high and a reasonable distance ahead of me. Suddenly, a huge gust of wind came up, harder than any breeze that had come up that day. It ended up carrying the Frisbee well away from me and into the woods beyond. Cursing under my breath about my bad luck, I trotted over where I thought it had entered.

As I reached the woods, I found that there was a line of bushes that separated me from the actual trees. Luckily for me, there was a gap between the bushes large enough for me to crawl through to the other side. Upon coming out the other side, I began searching for the Frisbee.

"Looking for this?"

Suddenly, the Frisbee landed right in front of me. I turned to thank the Good Samaritan that found it, but instead I let out a gasp. It was that Mightyena with a scar. The one who had nearly raped me. And he wasn't alone, with not just one, but two other Mightyena with him. Wasn't it just my luck?

Immediately, I began to back away from them. The Mightyena with a scar chuckled. "What's wrong, poppet? Don't you remember me?" he asked in a sickeningly kind voice. I nodded nervously, slowing backing away from the group. "Look, I know that our first meeting wasn't exactly the most endearing, but I wish to make it up with you."

"You have nothing to gain," I said, feeling my anger rise. "I'm no longer in heat, so there goes the idea you had last time." This was true: I recalled hearing Nurse Joy saying something to Kirk before I left that it appeared I was no longer going through that dreadful period.

He laughed at that suggestion. "That is not the reason I've been looking for you," he said, continuing to slink closer to me. Behind him, his croonies chuckled cheekily at that remark.

My luck only worsened as I found myself backed up against a tree. _Great, just perfect_, I noted sarcastically to myself. If that wasn't enough of a problem, I noticed that the Mightyena's eyes had a certain lustful desire about them. "What you want?" I asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

"To tell you the truth, after that first encounter, I've been thinking about you constantly," he said in that pseudo affectionate tone. "All I want…is someone to be with…" As he said that, he brought his head closer to mine, catching a whiff of his rancid breath from lack of proper care.

I wasn't about to let him take advantage of me. "Get away from me you perv!" I spat angrily as I slapped him across the muzzle.

The suddenness of my action caused him to emit a yelp of surprise and back away from me. "A feisty little bitch, huh?" he commented under his breath. He looked up at me and began to chuckle. "I like that…I like that a lot."

A menacing grin came across his face as he approached me. Of course, I wanted to run, but what use would that be? I figured that I would only find myself knocked out just like before. He was within a foot of me when suddenly, a strong gust of wind came up from seemingly nowhere. There was a loud grunt from Mightyena as something struck him in the side. The other two Mightyena ran over to their leader to see if he was okay. Somewhat bewildered by what had just happened, I looked toward the bushes to find the source of the wind. Emerging from behind a now bare bush was exactly whom I wanted to see at this moment: Soru.

Soru glanced over at me for a brief moment, checking to see if I was okay, before approaching the posse. "Apparently you didn't get the message the first time, Jet," he growled angrily at the Mightyena with the scar.

Jet was quickly back to his feet, his eyes flaring with anger upon discovering that Soru had intruded upon his attempt to seduce me. "What interest do you have in this creature?" he retorted bitterly. "You are not her keeper."

"True, I may not be her keeper," he responded. "However, she is under the care of my master, and I intend on protecting her."

Jet laughed at his pronouncement. "Your master," he said, scoffing the idea. "You used to love roaming the streets. What happened to that?"

Soru shook his head angrily at Jet's remark. "That was then," he replied angrily. "I see things differently now." He was only a few feet away from the three Mightyena, as though he was prepared to confront them.

"Heh-heh…are you thinking about taking on all three of us?" Jet questioned Soru, feigned curiosity in his voice. He, of course, believed he knew that it was Soru's intent. All three Mightyena prepared for a potential strike from my rescuer.

However, much to the surprise of everyone, instead of striking out at the group, Soru turned his attention to me. "Come on, Amber, let's leave," he said, gesturing me to follow him. "They will not dare to strike me, or they will face the consequences."

Soru's remark apparently hit a nerve with one of the Mightyena. "Did you just call us cowards?" he spat, approaching Soru from behind.

"Well, I'm certainly not calling you capable," he remarked offhandedly, turning his back completely to the posse.

His reply was the last straw with the Mightyena. "Don't call me cowardly you pompous bastard!" he shouted. Then, against the better judgement of his comrades, the Mightyena charged at Soru.

I was frightened. Soru didn't appear to have any clue that this savage was charging toward him with the intent of ripping him to shreds. "Soru, look out!" I shouted, warning Soru of the impending danger.

Just when it seemed like that Mightyena was about to strike, Soru sidestepped the incoming canine, sending him skidding across the ground much like I had earlier chasing after the Frisbee. The Mightyena was quickly back to his feet, looking much more incensed than before. Without contemplating any of the potential problems that could exist with what he did next, he resumed his charge toward Soru, teeth bared.

Soru gave a sly smile as he awaited his foe to get in range. In one swift motion, he ducked between the forelegs beneath his charging adversary. Then he suddenly stood upright and sent the surprised Mightyena flying over his back, landing with a thud in front of his leader and accomplice.

Soru turned his attention to the other Mightyena. "Do not try what he did," he warned sternly, motioning toward the Mightyena he had just thrown around. "Next time, I will not hold back." He then gestured to me. "Come on, Amber. Let's leave." With that he turned his back to the trio and started walking away.

I didn't waste a moment, quickly catching up with Soru. As we walked away, I glanced back over my shoulder at the Mightyena. The one accomplice was helping his comrade to his feet. However, Jet simply glared at Soru and I as we left the wooded area.


	6. Chapter 5: A Long Day's Night

**A/N: Come on, be serious. How many of you believed that I wasn't going to update again? I don't blame you. Thanks to musical practice almost every day for the past month, I've had very little time to write. Not to mention I've been working with the new story set to release this spring (see profile for more information). But the good news is that I've planned out pretty much everything that is going to happen in the story, so things will probably run smoother once the musical finishes its run.**

**Now the following is an important note that I highly suggest that you read. Not long after I posted the previous chapter, I received an anonymous review that was...how should I say, very accusative. The reviewer called me out, saying that I was completely plagerizing another story here on --_The Point of No Return _by Mintobrandybuck. **

**Given the nature of the review, it was deleted almost immediately. However, I feel that I must make things clear for the reader. _The Point of No Return _was on the major inspirations for this story. I've been in contact with Minto about this matter. He does not oppose this story whatsoever. ****I do not deny the similarities between the stories thus far. However, I am attempting to take my story in a different direction than his and have my own story that the readers can appreciate.**

**When I decided to allow anonymous reviews for this story, I knew I was possibly opening myself up to such criticism. However, I find that such bashing is cowardly, as they can charge the writer without even bothering to learn the truth, as with this situation. Truthfully, if you really want to bash me, I suggest that you get a profile so that I can respond back. Otherwise, those bashers are cowards. This is not directed at those anonymous reviewers who have been kind in their reviews and criticism, as I appreciate them.**

**Now that I'm finished ranting, I might as well let you read. So, at long last, here's the next chapter. **

**Chapter 5: A Long Day's Night**

It didn't take Amber and I long to reunite with Kirk. He was standing right outside the bushes. I guess that he probably had heard the commotion and had come over to see if we were all right. Well, since we didn't come back with Frisbee, it brought about an abrupt end to our time in the park. Kirk promised Amber that he would buy a new one when he came back from work the next day. In the meantime, though, it had gotten late, and it was time to return to the apartment.

During the walk back, Amber was insistent on asking questions. How did I know she was in trouble? Did I know Jet somehow? At first, I tried to ignore her. Personally, I didn't wish to talk about it. But she persisted and eventually, I caved in.

The first question was easy enough to answer. Simply enough, Kirk had asked me to go over and help Amber look for the Frisbee. I don't know why he made me go out there. He was just as capable of getting up and going over there himself. But I guess he figured I would be more adept at getting hold of the disk if it ended up in a difficult to reach spot. However, I forgot all about that when I saw Amber being confronted by Jet.

As for the second question, I didn't give an answer, despite her protests. Eventually, she gave up trying to coax it out of me. Truth be told, I did know Jet fairly well. It hadn't been all that long ago, perhaps two months or so ago, but it felt like ages since it had happened. I didn't like to think about it, but…

My reflections were interrupted by a short yawn. I looked over to see that Amber had fallen behind the pace a little. Poor Amber looked exhausted, probably from all the running around she had done all day. I wanted to help her out personally. But even though she wasn't that large, it wasn't something I could really do. Instead, I had to turn to someone else.

I gave a quick tug on Kirk's pant leg. "Wha…? Oh, Soru…" Having garnered his attention, I gesticulated toward Amber. Upon seeing her, he seemed to have picked up on what I was trying to say. "Right…" He went over to Amber and scooped her up into his arms. She seemed quite grateful for being carried, letting out a content sigh as Kirk started rubbing her under her chin.

For some reason, the sight of seeing Amber in Kirk's arms made me feel extremely jealous. I don't know why I felt so. It wasn't like I could really carry her myself. But just the sight of her curled up in his arms, head laying contently against his chest caused a resentful sensation to build up in mine. I had to hold back the urge to strike Kirk.

Once Kirk had picked Amber up, it didn't take too long to get back to the apartment. Even still, it was dark out when we arrived. As we entered the familiar abode, Kirk crossed the room and gently set Amber down on the carpeted floor. He led us out into the kitchen, where he poured us both bowls of food for dinner.

We ate in total silence. Well, I ate at least. For some reason, Amber wasn't too hungry. She only ate a little bit of the food in her bowl before walking back to the living room and sitting down at the foot of the loveseat. I was quite stupefied. Back at the Pokemon Center, she had displayed quite a healthy appetite. Kirk noticed this as well, walking away from his own dinner to check on her.

I was about to join him when he came back into the kitchen, shaking his head. "I don't know what's wrong—" He stopped when he spotted me walking toward him. I stopped and, for a moment, he just stared at me. As I said before, Kirk seemed to have this ability to read my thoughts. "Soru, did something happen in the park earlier?" he asked as he crossed the room back to the table, where his now cold dinner sat.

This wasn't the first time that Kirk questioned me, but still, I was a little surprised. He obviously knew that I couldn't communicate with him directly. However, even with this barrier between us, Kirk was able to interrogate me so well that he could come to conclusions that were often close to the actual events with just my nodding or shaking my head. He claimed that he had learned this when he was in graduate school, as a way to draw the truth out of witnesses in court cases. Of course, I didn't know what any of that stuff meant, but it sounded impressive enough.

I nodded silently to affirm the belief. Kirk contemplated for a moment. "Did someone try to hurt her?" he asked. Again, I nodded my head. "Did a person try to hurt her?" This time, I shook my head.

Kirk paused after this, pondering all the information he had gotten out of me. "It was that group of Mightyena, wasn't it?"

_He's good_, I thought to myself, yet again impressed by his deductive skills. I nodded to confirm his conclusion.

"I thought that was the case," he said quietly under his breath to himself. "They didn't actually hurt Mana..." He then looked back down at me. "Do you have any idea why they were in the park?"

That was one thing that I had wondered about myself. Why were Jet and his Mightyena in the park? From past experiences, Jet was much more comfortable operating at night or out of sight in the secluded alleys. But to come out in such a public place like the park? That was almost unheard of for him. I shook my head, not sure myself.

"No clue either, huh?" Kirk said, unable to really hide his disappointment of not having a clear answer. "Well, I guess we'll just have to a little more careful the next time we go to the park." He stood up from the table, placing the dirty dishes from his own dinner in the sink.

Meanwhile, I snuck out into the living room. Amber had since moved to her bed that Kirk set up for her earlier that day before we went to get her. I carefully walked past her, not wanting to wake her up. At first glance, she seemed to be at ease. But for some reason, I sensed that there was something wrong. I stopped and changed course, walking a little closer…

Suddenly, I felt at tug at the back of my neck. I looked back to see Kirk standing over me, shaking his head. "I know you're worried, but I think it is best if we leave her alone for now," he said, trying to reassure me. "I left her bowl of food out for her just in case she wakes up later. I'm going to my room to work on a case." With that, he turned and walked away, leaving me alone with Amber.

I took a quick glance back toward her. She seemed to be out cold, like she had just taken some of that medicine from the Pokemon Center. Her face still looked serene and undisturbed. This was certainly a relief after all that had happened during the day. Perhaps a good night's sleep would do her well.

Yet, for some inexplicable reason, I still felt that strange foreboding vibe. _It's probably nothing_, I told myself, trying to shrug off the idea. After all, these sensations were all too common for my kind. It was probably just another shift in the weather, considering how unsettled the weather had been over the past few days. I walked over to my own bed and settled down, still feeling those strange reverberations in my head. As I nodded off to sleep, I just hoped that they turned out to be nothing…

* * *

_Can't…stop…Must…keep…going…_

_I found myself staggering through the endless labyrinth of alleyways. My legs felt like jelly, barely able to support my weight. I didn't know how long I'd been running, nor did I care. All I knew was that I couldn't stop. If I did…_

_There was a crash of trashcans behind me. Crap. He was near. I started to run again, ignoring the searing pain in my lungs. Yet no matter how hard I ran, I could hear him getting closer…closer…closer…_

_Suddenly, something smashed into the back of my head, spending me sprawling across the pavement. "You're mine, now," a voice growled, a hint of satisfaction hidden beneath it. I tried to get up, but before I could, I was pinned on my back. I now found myself face-to-face with my worst fear: that bastard of a Mightyena, Jet, looking more gruesome and fierce than ever._

_Desperately, I tried to squirm my way out of his grip. However, his size and strength were too much for me to overcome. He hardly even had to exert any effort holding me down on the ground. "Heh-heh…you're weak," he chided as he watched me squirm. "There's nothing you can do."_

_But maybe there was. I mean, I was a Pokemon after all. Perhaps I could use a move of some sort to knock him off of me. But what move? What move could I possibly use in this situation? I knew nothing about what an Eevee could do. And nothing was coming to me instinctively either. He was right: I couldn't do anything._

_I could only hope for someone to show up and help me. Someone had to have heard the commotion. Some Good Samaritan would come to the aid of a poor Eevee. But no matter what I kept telling myself, I knew no one was coming. It was over._

_As the cruel reality began to sink in, I did the only thing I could possibly do. I started to cry. "Why?" I shouted at Jet, feeling my hot tears cascade down my cheeks. "Why are you doing this to me?"_

_Jet's face widened in a sinister grin, flashing his disgusting unkempt teeth in my face. His grotesque yellow eyes were locked on my deep brown eyes. "Why?" he rasped mockingly as he watched me cry. Then he brought his face up within a few inches of mine, so close I could smell his rancid breath and feel the drool dripping off his muzzle. "Because, my dear…I can."_

_He threw his head back in a maniacal laugh. As he looked back at me, I gasped. Instead of those yellow eyes that distinguished the Mightyena kind, he now sported a pair of icy blue eyes. Kyle's eyes. I began to scream. Jet, with that perverse grin still plastered on his face, brought himself down on top of me, more than happy to exert his will upon me…_

…

I awoke with a start, breathing arduously. My eyes darted around, trying to establish where I was. Though it was dark, it wasn't too hard to conclude that I was in my bed in Kirk's apartment. I put a paw to my chest. My heart was beating so profusely that I thought it would secede from my chest.

"It was just a dream," I told myself, trying to come to terms with what I just witnessed in my sleep. But still, for a dream, it was very lifelike. I swear that I could feel a dull aching on the back of my head where I had been hit in the dream. I shook my head, trying to convince myself it was just a coincidence. Perhaps I banged my head on something while I was asleep.

Everything about the dream seemed to be exaggerated. I mean, I wasn't likely to be by myself now, especially with Kirk and Soru. Plus, I highly doubted that I would make the same mistake of wandering into the alleys alone and finding myself face-to-face with those Mightyena again. And Jet having Kyle's eyes…that was just creepy, something not likely happen.

One thing about the dream really bothered me, though: Jet calling me weak. Okay, it wasn't entirely my fault. After all, I had been an Eevee for what…a week now? I wasn't sure, but in the grand scale of things, I had about as much knowledge of my body as a guy did when it comes to knowing what girls want. But that was beside the fact. I was weak. By now, I'm sure any other Pokemon would've learned at least one or two moves. Me…I had nothing.

I sighed. _But what can I do?_ I wondered to myself. For all I knew, I could have the ability to use some insane move that would destroy everything in a ten-foot radius around me. But I didn't have the instinctive awareness that other Pokemon had. I wish that I knew someone who could teach me. Maybe another Eevee that has gone through the same struggles I had. Not that that was possible, but still…

_Wait a minute! Soru!_ The idea suddenly hit me. Perhaps he could teach me. After seeing what he had done earlier, it was likely that he was a strong battler. I didn't know if he would be willing to or not…that I would have to ask him.

Initially, I planned on doing it in the morning, when he was a little more coherent. However, I found it almost impossible to get back to sleep, my mind conjuring up images of the nightmare again and again. Even after telling myself it was just a dream, it was still frightening. I had to talk to Soru now. It couldn't wait for morning, or else I wouldn't be able to sleep. I just hoped that he wouldn't be angry with me.

* * *

Compared to some nights, I was actually sleeping quite well. I do not recall if I was dreaming about anything in particular. If I was, it probably wasn't anything significant, as it is lost forever in the abyss of forgotten lore. Either way, though, I was sleeping fairly well that night.

At least I was, until someone started poking me on the shoulder. I gave a frustrated groan. It was probably Amber. She probably wanted to ask me questions again about Jet. At first, I tried to ignore it and fall back to sleep. But the persistence became too much. I opened my eyes and sat up. Sure enough, sitting right in front of me was Amber.

"I…I'm sorry about waking you up, Soru," she said quietly, "but you're the only one I can talk to."

Almost instantly, my mood about being woken up changed. She seemed to be frightened, like she had seen a ghost or something. "Amber, what's wrong?" I asked, doing my best to hold back a yawn. "Did you have a bad dream?"

"Yes," she said, nodding solemnly. "I…I had a nightmare about Jet." She then went on to describe her nightmare to me. Throughout her recollection, she would stutter or just pause for no apparent reason. When she finished, she was almost on the verge of tears.

"Amber, it was just a dream," I said, trying to comfort her in some way. "Don't worry…"

"Don't worry?" she interrupted, a hint of angst in her voice. "I was nearly raped twice by the same damn perverted canine and now I had a nightmare about it, and all you can say is 'Don't worry?'"

"Amber, I—"

"You have no idea what I've been through recently! I have no clue about how to do anything to protect myself! And you insist that I don't worry!" For a moment, she just stared at me angrily, breathing heavily. Then he broke down and started to cry in my shoulder.

To say that I was surprised by Amber's sudden shift in emotions would be an understatement. One moment she seemed ready to rip my head off, only to start crying into the shoulder the next. I didn't know how to best react, as I had never had to deal with a situation like this before. Silently, without even thinking about it, I started to gently stroke the fur on the back of her neck. Gradually, she began to calm down, her crying reduced to silent sobs.

Amber looked up at me, tears still running down her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she apologized emphatically. "I-I didn't mean—"

"No Amber, you're right," I said. "You have every right to be afraid. I have no idea what you went through before we met. Nor does it matter." I paused for a moment, trying to think of how to say things. "If you want to ask me anything…I'd be willing to listen."

Amber said nothing for a moment, I guess trying to comprehend my offer. "Could you teach me?" she asked, breaking the silence.

I was a bit confused by what she meant. "Teach you?"

"Teach me how to defend myself."

Now I was completely perplexed. "You don't know how?"

She nodded. "I…never learned how," she conceded, staring down at the floor. "I mean, I've defended myself before, but…" Her voice trailed off for a moment as she looked over her front paws. "Please, Soru. I really need you to help me." Now she was staring up at me with those pleading brown eyes of the Eevee species.

Without even thinking about it, I nodded my head. "I guess I could help," I said, not realizing the mess I was about to get myself into.

As soon as I said that, Amber's ears perked up. "Really, you will?" she asked to make sure I wasn't lying. I nodded again, but did say anything else. Then, much to my surprise, she reached up and gave me a hug around the neck. It wasn't a long embrace or anything like that. Just one of those quick hugs that someone might give to a friend.

After releasing the embrace, she was quick to realize what she had done. "Sorry, guess I was bit…excited," she said, blushing a little.

I smiled. "It's okay," I said. "I understand. But for now, I'm going back to bed, and you should probably as well." As I said that, her stomach grumbled in disagreement. I held back a chuckle. "Or you could get something to eat. Kirk left some food out for you."

"I guess food wouldn't hurt," she agreed. "I'll be out in the kitchen. Good night, Soru." I muttered something to the same extent in return as I rested my head back on my bed and watched silently as Amber crossed the room to the kitchen.

Really, when I had offered to listen to her, I wasn't expecting her to ask me to do this. I had never taught anyone before in my life. Everything I had learned about combat came instinctively. So to hear that a Pokemon has no real comprehension how to defend herself was a true surprise. But that didn't mean she couldn't have had those urges suppressed in the past by a stringent master. Indeed, I had seen a number of Pokemon here in the city that, in the wild, could be fierce fighters reduced to mere house pets.

But now an interesting task had been set before me. What exactly would I teach her? Most of the moves I knew were completely incompatible for an Eevee. There were a few she could possibly learn, but only if she evolved, which didn't seem like happening any time soon.

There was one move that came to my mind that I could teach her. However, it would be a hard move for her to master. I couldn't even recall the last time I used it in combat. Nonetheless, it was the only move that I had knowledge of that could also be learned by an Eevee.

I sighed. _This isn't going to be easy_, I thought to myself as I finally fell asleep for the night, undisturbed until the next morning.


	7. Chapter 6: Teaching a New Dog Old Tricks

**A/N: Well, I'm back. Sorry this took much longer than I first anticipated. As I probably mentioned with the last chapter, I began to write this chapter as the musical was about to open. But now, the show having ended a few weeks ago, I have had time to write some. Unfortunately, I ended up spliting my time between three projects: this, _The Twilight Chronicles_, and a one-shot that I should post either today or tomorrow.**

**But back to this story here. Yeah, this chapter probably isn't my best written, but it should be entertaining nonetheless. I have no clue as to when the next chapter will be up, as I'm still debating what I should center it around. As usual, all reviews and comments are appreciated and encouraged. Especially from those silent readers (I know who some of you are, as I get alerts when someone subscribes to the story).**

**So what are you waiting for? Get reading.**

**Chapter 6: Teaching a New Dog Old Tricks**

It's official: I hate the rain.

Back when I was human, rain was never that big of a deal. Okay, it was water that came from the sky. It was just a minor inconvenience, nothing to worry about. But as an Eevee, it became a nightmare. During our walk that next morning, it was raining at a fairly good clip. As I walked through the rain, I quickly discovered that my fur was quite adept at absorbing and holding in water. By the time we returned to the apartment, it felt like I had gained ten extra pounds. It took a major effort from Kirk and myself to dry me off.

Kirk had to go to work, and left Soru and I alone in the apartment. It was extremely boring. There was nothing to do. He didn't have any books to read, and all the magazines he had were either sports-related or news journals. Not my favorite reading materials. Of course, there was a television. Perhaps I could've found something interesting to watch. But after thinking a little, it occurred to me that it wasn't natural for a Pokemon to watch TV. It would probably garner some weird looks from Soru.

I spent a lot of time secretly observing Soru, trying to learn what the average Pokemon did when they were alone. Mainly, he sat around and tried to sleep, occasionally grooming himself. A few times he spotted me watching. Immediately, I averted my gaze, trying to not make Soru suspicious of me. He would look at me for moment before returning to whatever he was doing before.

Feeling that I had intruded upon Soru's privacy too much for one day, I decided to take a look out Kirk's bedroom window. It was the only thing I could think of. As I sat there watching as the rain pattered against the glass, I began to think about things, particularly the previous night. Truthfully, I did not expect to break down as much as I did. I don't know why that was. After all, I hadn't cried when I was cornered by Jet in the park.

But during the walk home, I began to feel strange. I don't know how to truly explain it, but I felt off. I lost my appetite completely. And then that nightmare. Granted, I hadn't cried when I first awoke from the nightmare either, but I realized that perhaps I had been more affected by the incident than I thought. I had to talk to someone. And that someone was Soru.

Again, I didn't expect to break down when I talked to Soru. But a strange thing happened as I recounted the nightmare to him. Looking at his face, seeing him attentively listening to me…it was somewhat overwhelming. I guess that's why I had gotten so angry when he rationally said it was just a dream. I did overreact, but it wasn't the answer I expected to get. But even after that, he treated me kindly. It was like he really understood what was going on with me.

Not only that, but he agreed to help me. He was going to teach me a move. I was so ecstatic when he told me that I found it difficult to get back to sleep. I hoped we could begin the next morning, but Soru told me that it would require a lot of room to practice, so we would have to wait until the next time we went to the park. Given the weather that morning, it wasn't going to happen that day.

I tried to ask what move he would teach me, but he refused to give me details. All he said was that it was fairly powerful. I speculated what move it could be. Perhaps it was that wind attack that he had used on Jet. That would be pretty awesome. My anticipation for our first training session was mounting.

Finally, after spending two boring days of idling around the apartment, Kirk took us to the park after work one day. During the whole walk over, I kept looking over at Soru, expecting him to tell me something about what he was going to do. But he kept silent, much like he was at the apartment. I guess he wanted it to be a surprise.

Our party returned to the same spot we were at before, that small grassy knoll by the woods. Kirk pulled out the new Frisbee he brought to replace the one we had "lost" the last time we were there. But I paid no attention to him, much to his disappointment. Instead I looked over to Soru. He motioned for me to follow him.

"So, what are we going to do?" I asked as I followed him. "Are you teaching me that wind attack?"

He glanced down at me skeptically. "Wind attack? What are…Oh, you mean Razor Wind," he said, realizing what I was talking about. "No, I'm not. I don't think Eevee can learn that move."

"Oh," I said, somewhat disappointed. "So, what exactly are you going to teach me?"

Soru stopped. "This should be a good spot," he said under his breath, looking around the open field to make sure we weren't going to intrude upon other park goers. He turned back to me. "So, would you like to see the move?"

I nodded vigorously. "Oh yes, please," I answered excitedly, eager to see what I would be learning.

He gave a light grunt and gestured for me to give him some room. I watched carefully as he shut his eyes and took a deep breath, releasing the air slowly from his lungs. Suddenly, his eyes shot open and a small pulsating orb of black light appeared floating just in front of his forehead. At first, it was small, not much larger than a marble. But it grew in size exponentially until it was the size of his head. Soru held it there for a moment, allowing me to look at it in awe. The orb was strangely translucent with what looked like electricity sparking from some unknown source in the center. Then, with a quick jerk of his head, he thrust the orb skyward. I watched as it continued to gain altitude before disappearing in the afternoon sky.

After he was satisfied that the attack was well out of his field of vision, Soru looked back toward me, indifferently. "That is the attack I wish to teach you," he said calmly. "Shadow Ball."

My mind was racing. _He's going to teach me that?_ I thought excitedly. There was no doubt in my mind that Shadow Ball was the attack that I wanted to learn. It looked so powerful, so forceful. But was it really possible that I could learn that attack? I guess that I would have to test myself and find out.

"Now Amber," said Soru, pacing around in front of me like an army commander addressing his men before battle, "I agreed to help you. But you must understand that it is an extremely difficult move to learn." He stopped for a moment with his back turned away. "And your lack of fighting experience will make it even more so…"

I walked up next to him. "I'll do whatever it takes," I said confidently.

He looked down at me curiously. But then, he gave a curt nod. "Fine, then we shall begin." He gestured for me to sit in front of him. Eagerly, I followed his silent order and did so.

"To truly learn how to use this move, you need to know how exactly it works." He sat down and looked over me. "Shadow Ball is an interesting attack. It's one of a few attacks that are comprised of spiritual energy."

I cocked my head to the side. "Spiritual energy?" I asked, not sure what he meant.

"I'm sure you've heard how there are many forms of energy, all dependant upon the attack being used," he explained. "However, there are truly only two forms of energy when it comes to life and death: aura and spiritual energy. Aura is the living essence, an energy that sustains life in all living organisms. Without it, nothing would live. And nothing would die…

"When something dies, their release an invisible energy force called spiritual energy. It is the polar opposite of aura. But unlike aura, which dies away with its host, spiritual energy is boundless. Nothing limits it, as there is always death…"

_Okay, that's a little freaky_, I thought to myself. The way Soru was presenting this whole concept of spiritual energy was very morbid.

"Originally, only Ghost Pokemon—the souls of the dead—were able to control spiritual energy, being most in tune with this force," he continued, that macabre tone still in his voice. "However, as time passed, more and more species found themselves able to tune into this energy force."

"So…I'm able to tune into this energy?" I asked, trying to put everything together.

"Indeed. The Eevee species is quite in sync with nature," he said. "After all, it is possible for your kind to take on several diverse forms depending upon the stimulus. This unique characteristic ensures that your kind can pick up on some of the more subtle forms of energy, including spiritual energy."

I thought about it for a moment. It made sense…somewhat. I was more confused than anything else, but I figured it would be best not to let Soru know that. "I think I understand," I said.

He nodded. "Okay, now for the move itself." Soru once again changed position, choosing to sit by my side for this next part. "To begin with, you need to concentrate—"

"Why?" I inquired. I mean, it pretty much looked like he summoned the attack out of thin air.

He sighed. "It takes much more effort than I displayed to use this move. Not to mention I have much more experience with it. Now close your eyes."

I did so. I will admit, I felt pretty stupid. There was probably some bystander looking over at us wondering what the heck we were doing. Even still, I had to trust what Soru said. After all, he was the one who knew better.

"Breathe slowly. This will help you to relax." I did as he asked, slowing down my breathing. "Good. Do you feel anything?"

"No, not yet."

He gave a disappointed grunt. "You need to let go all your worries."

_Humph, that's easy for him to say_, I thought to myself. If he had half an idea what I'd been through recently…I stopped. _This is exactly what he's talking about_. With that, I attempted to

Then, I started to sense something surrounding me. It was really strange. The best that I could equate it to was static electricity. But it was very different. It felt…almost as though it had a life of its own. _Perhaps it's…_

"You seem to be sensing something," Soru commented. I didn't know how he knew that, but he probably saw my reaction. "I think you may have it. Make sure you remember that sensation you're feeling right now. Now, quickly open your eyes and draw in a breath. That's how you begin to charge the move."

_Wait, what did he say to do?_I was very confused. Soru had said it so quickly that I wasn't able to comprehend what he was telling me. _Guess I better try my best_. I began to draw in a breath.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion. Next thing I knew, I found myself on my back, looking up at the clear blue sky. Now, I may not be an expert when it comes to learning new moves, but it was pretty obvious that I did something wrong.

Soru stood over me, shaking his head. "You did it wrong," he said in a very unimpressed tone. " You needed open your eyes first, then breathe in."

"Well, it would've been nice if you told me before what I needed to do," I replied as I pulled myself back to my feet. "Why didn't you tell me that before I began to use the move?"

"I figured you would've noticed how I executed the move," he said sarcastically, "given you were so attentive during my demonstration."

I was about to retort, but I thought better of it. He was right. Perhaps he could've explained it better, but I didn't really pay attention to what he had done during the demonstration. I was more fascinated by the actual attack than the mechanics.

Soru sighed. "Still, I probably should explain a few things to you." He stood next to me in the same stance when he used the attack before. "As I already said, you need to concentrate on finding that spiritual energy. It seemed like you had a bead on it there."

"Well, I did feel something," I admitted, "but how do I know it's spiritual energy and not some other form of energy?"

"Spiritual energy has a very peculiar feel. It seems to act on its own accord when someone comes in contact with it. It's like it's trying to resist the user from controlling it, unlike other forms of energy."

I considered asking Soru to elaborate on the other forms of energy, but thought better of it. I was already having difficulty understanding things as it was. The last thing I needed was to be overloaded with information that I couldn't comprehend.

Soru went back to explaining the move. "Now, once you have a feel for the energy, you need to open your eyes first. By doing that, you actually will see the spiritual energy as a mist surrounding you, even though no one else will.

"From there, you need to breathe in. You will not actually take it into your body. Since you are still living, spiritual energy has no reason to enter your body. Rather, it will condense in front of you into an orb. You must make sure not to take in too much energy too fast, or it will backfire on you."

"I didn't realize learning a move was so complex," I commented. "Every time I've seen a Pokemon learning a new move, they didn't seem to exert much effort."

"In reality, most Pokemon don't know what it takes," said Soru, looking out across the field. "They may do the same things to execute the move, but they don't understand why it is that it happens. To truly master a move and use it to its fullest potential, you need to understand why you do certain things." He turned back to me. "Do you think you're ready to try again?"

Honestly, I wasn't too sure about if I could do it. What I had thought to be an easy task was turning out to be something much more in depth. But I didn't want to give up. "Sure, I'll give it another go."

He nodded and backed up, giving me room. I shut my eyes, letting myself relax. Again, I began to feel that strange familiar sensation that I had felt before. This time, I remembered to open my eyes first before breathing in. I was in for a big surprise. It appeared like a gray fog was surrounding me. I was startled and took in a quick breath. And wouldn't you know what happened?

I pulled myself up after once again being thrown backward by an unintentional explosion. "What I'd do this time?" I asked, rubbing the back of my head.

Soru sighed. "You breathed in too quickly," he stated. "That sharp breath you took brought too much energy around for you to control. It just went wild and backfired."

I gave a frustrated groan. "Come on, you can't be serious…"

He shook his head. "Being angry about things will just make it harder for yourself. You need to calm down." He sat down next to me. "Now try again.

After that, I continued to practice trying to use the move. Although I tried my hardest, I couldn't achieve more than a small orb before it would blow up in my face. Yet I didn't want to give up, and I continued to try until Kirk mercifully stepped in and told Soru and I that it was time to leave.

As we walked home, I had a hard time holding back my frustration. I was angry with myself that I couldn't get the move to work like Soru had demonstrated. I mean, I was a freaking Pokemon! This sort of thing should come easy. It wasn't until we were back at the apartment and eating dinner that I let Soru know about my discontent. Again he sat there and listened to my complaints intently, much like a few nights before.

Then, much to my surprise, he put a paw on my shoulder. "Learning to use a new move is far from easy," he reassured me. "I had a tough time learning that move when I was younger."

"You had trouble too?" I asked. It didn't seem possible to me that he would struggle to learn, especially after seeing his display that afternoon.

"As I said before, Shadow Ball started out with Ghost Pokemon," he said. "It's much more difficult for someone like you or I to learn. Some Pokemon are naturally inclined. But I'm sure that you'll get it with some practice."

That made me feel much better about myself. "Thanks, Soru," I said. "I'm glad that you're teaching me."

This brought something that I hadn't seen before from Soru. A smile. It wasn't much, just a gentle upward curl of the ends of his lips. But it was something I hadn't seen him do since I met him. Yet seeing him smile, it seemed so natural and comfortable. I wondered why he hadn't shown it before.

The rest of the evening was uneventful. It wasn't difficult to get to sleep, as I was quite exhausted from training. As I settled down, I reflected on the day. Sure, it had been difficult and it was far from what I expected it to be like. But thanks to Soru, I was at least beginning to learn what it was like to be a Pokemon.


	8. Chapter 7: Conflicting Interests

**A/N: Hello readers. As always, whenever I post here, that means a new chapter is up. Sorry about the wait. I've been somewhat busy lately. Anyway, this could be the last chapter until July rolls around. Hopefully not, but the possibility exists. After all, there's school, another one-shot I'm planning, and a trip overseas that will cut into the writing time for this story. But hey, that's not to worry about now. This is what you're here to see.**

**As usual, please read and review. I hope this chapter is good.**

**Chapter 7: Conflicting Interests**

For as long as I have been living with Kirk, I always wondered why he didn't have a mate. He appeared to be of the age that a young male such as himself would search for a female companion. I knew that he was interested in females, given by my discovery of these strangely erotic magazines I found under his bed. And he was a fairly handsome fellow, so I doubt that it would be hard to attract someone.

However, he was almost always working and had very little time for things. Amber so loving titled him as a workaholic. I didn't know what she meant by it, but I guessed it had to do with his perpetual work habits. I felt sorry for him at times. Sometimes during our morning walks, he was on the verge of falling asleep standing up. Only a well-timed nudge from Amber or myself would prevent him the embarrassment of collapsing on the sidewalk.

It wasn't much better in the evenings. He would return home sometimes and start working on a peculiar device, which he called a laptop. Sometimes he would sit there for hours at the kitchen table, his fingers feverishly gliding across the keys. He spent so much time on it that we hardly got to go out. Since Amber and I had started training a few weeks before, we had infrequently gone to the park. Even when we were there, we didn't stick around long enough to accomplish anything significant.

So it was surprising to see Kirk come in one evening and not take out the laptop. Instead, he came stumbling in. "Oh man, I gotta clean this place up," he said under his breath. Fervently, he went around the living area, picking up the trash that was laying around on the floor and straighten everything up.

Amber walked over to me after Kirk grabbed her bed, dumping her out of it. He grabbed mine as well and he ran to another area of the apartment.

"What's all this about?" she asked.

I shrugged. "You've got me," I said, just as Kirk ran back into the living room.

"Man, what am I going to do?" he asked himself. "I still need to get a shower. The kitchen needs to be cleaned…Why did I agree to a date tonight?" Just as suddenly as he ran back into the room, he ran back out.

I was left with much more confusion than before. "A date?" I asked myself, over the din of dirty dishes being flung around the kitchen.

"You don't know what a date is?"

I jumped. I had forgotten for a moment that Amber was right next to me. "Well, not really…" I confessed sheepishly, as though it was probably something that I should've known.

"It's when a man and woman go out to spend some time together," she explained. "Usually, it's with someone you really like."

"So it's some sort of human mating ritual?" I asked, trying to associate it to something I knew.

She gave a nervous laugh. "I guess you could call it that," she said. "I highly doubt that Kirk and his date would be doing any mating tonight."

I nodded, at least gaining a simple understanding of what was going on. "But how do you know so much about this?"

Amber looked down at her shifting paws. "Well…"

Before she could answer, Kirk again ran back into the living room. "You two. Baths. Now." Neither of us could react before he started herding us to the bathroom. Of course, I was first to go.

Baths…I detest them so much. It's not that I do not like to be clean. After all, my fur can get to be pretty sullied. But having to take one with someone else washing you with a smelly gel while you are fully capable of doing so feels so degrading. Not to mention being dried off with a towel and becoming a static magnet.

However, I knew Kirk was trying to impress a potential mate, so I put my discord behind me for his sake. Still, it wasn't fun. There was no way to get over that feeling of displeasure as his hands went over my body, especially when it came to around my hips. I personally prefer to clean myself there, but seeing as I had choice, I just endured it.

Amber was next. She seemed to be looking forward to getting a bath. She had been complaining about how grimy her fur had gotten. I peeked into the bathroom. It certainly seemed like she was enjoying things much more so than I did. I sat there for a moment, watching Kirk run his hands through her long fur. That feeling of jealousy arose in my chest again. I had to get away from the bathroom.

So I went out to the living room and laid down on the loveseat, waiting for the two of them to come out. Sure enough, Amber and Kirk came out a few minutes later, Kirk drying her off with a towel in his arms.

He carefully set her down on the ground. "There you—" he cut himself off. "There's a huge mess in the tub, isn't there?" He ran back to the bathroom to see. I can't recall exactly what he said next, but it sounded like he was very frustrated.

I looked away from there and my eyes instantly fell on Amber. That bath seemed to have made a difference. She looked really nice. Her clean fur caught the light shining in through the window, giving off a gentle sheen. I fell into a minor trance, distracted from everything else.

Amber looked over at me. "Uh, Soru, are you okay?" she asked.

That brought me back to reality. "Sorry," I apologized feeling a little embarrassed. "I just…You look nice."

She seemed a bit surprised. "Oh…thank you," she said, kind of unsure how to react. "You look good as well."

Before I could reply, there was a knock at the door. Kirk came running into the living with only a towel wrapped around his waist. "Oh no, she can't be here already," he said in a panicky voice. Carefully, he cracked open the door to peek out. "Alex, this isn't—"

The door burst open, knocking Kirk backward. Of course, in came Alex and Paco, disregarding Kirk's plea. "Hey man, how—" Alex cut himself off when he saw Kirk pulling himself back to his feet. "Dude, were you planning on going out stark or is this just what you do when nobody's else around?"

Kirk shook his head. "This isn't the time, Alex," Kirk said, trying his best to keep from exposing himself. "I've got a date in two hours, and I really need to get prepared."

Alex laughed. "So that's it. How about I help you out?"

Kirk appeared to want to protest, but he sighed. "Fine. But you two need to be gone by the time she gets here." With that Kirk and Alex went off to the bedroom to get him ready.

So now it was Amber, Paco, and I alone in the living room. Paco looked over at Amber. He had a sly smile on his face. "So, how is la chica doing?" he asked.

Amber didn't seem to want to stick around. "I'm going out to the kitchen," she said. "I'm getting kind of hungry." She got up and left the room. I didn't blame her at all. Paco could make you feel uncomfortable.

I was left alone in the living room with Paco. "So Kirk's going on a date?" he asked. "Lucky hombre."

"You know what a date is?" I asked.

"Si, Alex goes out on a bunch of them," he said with a cheeky grin. "The chichas flock to him."

I had to hold back a laugh. Alex didn't seem like the type of guy that would really get the attention of females. He was sloppy and somewhat unruly at times. I could imagine his attempts ending in failure more times than not.

"So how go things between you and Amber?" he inquired. "Does she treat you the same way as me?"

I shook my head. But while she didn't treat me like Paco, she treated me…differently. I mean, she was friendly and all. However, ever since I started teaching her Shadow Ball, all we seemed to talk about training and combat. She was fascinated by it. She wanted to know everything she could do. I certainly admired that enthusiasm, but it would be nice to talk about other things once in a while. Like maybe the weather.

"Hey, hombre! Quit zoning out on me!"

Paco was poking at my shoulder persistently. I tried to shrug him off. "You need to stop doing that," I said disdainfully.

"Well, you never answered my question," he replied. "So, does she know you like her?"

Again, I shook my head. "I haven't told her anything about that," I said. "I…really don't know if I really like her like that."

Paco was befuddled. "What do you mean, hombre?" he asked. "You nearly choked me when I even suggested the idea. Are you giving up on her?"

I shuffled a little. "No, it's not that," I insisted. "I'm just…confused." It was true that I had felt those feelings not long after I met Amber. But I wondered for a while whether that was because she was in heat. It was logical, after all. I wasn't immune to the attraction that had also enticed Jet. However, even after she had been through her cycle, I still felt something. They weren't as forthcoming, but those feelings were still there, buried in my chest.

Then, I thought that I could satisfy these sensations when I started training with Amber. Perhaps it would make her more interested in me. But that didn't seem to be the case. All she was thinking about was training. If anything, it only seemed to leave me more confused than before. What did she really think of me? I had no answer to that.

Paco seemed to sense that I was holding something back from him. "There's more to this, isn't there?" he said. "I can tell."

I turned away from Paco. "I really don't want to talk about it," I said as I walked over to my bed. I didn't want to talk anymore about the subject.

Paco tried numerous times for the rest of the time he was there to pry more out of me. But I didn't budge. While I might have been indecisive and conflicted on the inside, outside I was resolute and unyielding.

* * *

I walked into the kitchen. There was no food there. Not that I was very surprised, though. After all, Kirk had been running around pretty much the entire time he had been home. I just used it as an excuse to get out of the living room.

It wasn't really a secret that I wasn't too keen about Paco. Nothing against him, of course. I just felt uncomfortable around him. He reminded me of this guy I knew at my high school. He would constantly hit on me, even after I told him to leave me alone. For whatever reason, Paco just seemed to give off that same vibe.

I could hear Kirk and Alex arguing in the bedroom. Part of me wanted to go in there and investigate, but I stayed away. I would only be getting in the way. _So what can I do in here?_ I looked around. There was a small chew toy that Kirk had bought for me not long after I moved in. I hadn't had much interest in it before then, but since I had nothing else to do…

I grabbed the toy in my mouth. It was very rubbery and not particularly tasty. I could taste the dust that had gotten on it from laying on the floor. But I didn't mind. I lay down on the floor and started chewing at it, like I had seen other Pokemon do. It wasn't particularly fascinating, nor was there really anything that encouraged me to keep chewing on it. But for some reason, I continued to. Pokemon instincts, I guess.

I don't know how long I lay there chewing on it. I remember stopping because Kirk came walking into the kitchen and almost tripped over me. For some reason, I had become pretty good at that. I looked up at him. He had cleaned up quite well. He was dressed in one of the sport jackets he usually wore to work, but he had combed his hair. It looked quite nice smoothed back, I wished he kept it. He also trimmed his goatee so it didn't look quite so wild.

Yet even though he was dressed for the occasion, he wasn't quite together mentally. "Man, she's going to be here soon," he said to himself. Alex entered the kitchen as well. "How do I look?"

Alex smiled. "You look fine, man." He walked over and gave Kirk a big pat on the back. "Now don't forget those pickup lines I told you to use."

"Pickup lines…right," Kirk muttered, not really paying attention to Alex. Just then, there was a knock at the door. "Oh no, she's here!"

Quickly, all three of us rushed out of the kitchen to the living room. Alex scooped Paco up in his arms, much to the Lombre's surprise. Soru, who was laying in his bed at the time, didn't seem bothered by the sudden influx into the living room. Kirk walked over to the door, assuring himself he would be okay. He ran his hands through his hair one last time, making sure that it was straight and flat. Then, after taking a deep breath he opened up the door.

"Hello, Michelle. Come in."

Kirk stepped aside as he opened the door. In walked a woman about the same age. She had long dark brown hair that hung well past her shoulders. She wore a nice teal dress, complete with sequins. Obviously, she had been much more prepared for this date. The only thing I didn't like about her was her make-up. Unlike most girls, I never really liked make-up, thinking that it just was making your true look.

Then, I noticed a gray-furred cat strut the room behind her. It certainly wasn't difficult to determine what it was. The crescent-shaped head, the spring-like tail…it was a Glameow. But why was it here?

Alex looked between Kirk and Michelle, chuckling nervously. "Well, I'll leave you two," he said, slinking toward the door. Then, with deceiving speed, he and Paco were gone.

Michelle smiled, pretending not to have noticed that. "I hope you don't mind that I brought Lilith over," she said, gesturing to the Glameow. "I thought it might be a good idea to have our Pokemon interact some."

Kirk looked like he had some doubts. "Are you sure that's such a good idea?" he said. "Wouldn't it be best if we were here with them?"

"I'm sure that they'll be just fine," she said. Then, she walked over to Soru. "Oh, you must be the Absol that Kirk told me about. Saro…Sora…"

"It's Soru," Kirk interrupted, correcting her. "And that would be Mana." He gestured toward me, calling me by my pet name.

Her face lit up as she walked over to me. "Well, aren't you a little darling?" she cooed as she approached me. Something told me I wasn't going to like this. I tried to slink away from her, but she scooped me up in her arms. "Kirk told me an incredible story about he found you."

I rolled my eyes. It's bad enough that I was an Eevee, but must she treat me like a baby? She was slowly getting on my nerves. But at least she and Kirk were about to leave.

Kirk came over and tapped Michelle on her shoulder. "Uh, Michelle, we better get going," he said. "We don't want to be late for the movie."

She gave a sigh, setting me back down on the floor. "You're right." She walked over to Lilith and gave a pat on the head. "I want you to behave yourself with Mana and Soho."

"It's Soru," Kirk interjected yet again. She smiled pretending to look embarrassed about it as Kirk escorted her out for their evening.

I looked around the living room. Soru hadn't even bothered to get up from his bed. In fact, I think he was sleeping. So that really left just Lilith and myself. She was sitting on the floor, trying to figure out what there was in the apartment. It appeared like she had been dragged into the situation. I decided to introduce myself to her.

"Uh, hi Lilith," I said as I approached her from behind, trying to engage in conversation.

Lilith snapped her head around so quickly, I nearly fell over backward. "Oh, it's you," she said in a haughty tone. "Mana, was it?"

"Yeah," I answered, a little bit drawn back by her tone. "Although some call me…" My voice trailed off as she got up and walked away from me. I huffed a bit indignantly. "Nice attitude."

I turned around to leave the room, but then, I caught sight of something out of the corner of my eye. Lilith had walked over to Soru. Now, I probably wouldn't have thought much about it normally. But the way she was approaching him, strutting and waving her tail around. She seemed to be trying to seduce Soru.

She sat down next to him. "Hello, big guy," she said seductively.

Soru turned his head the other way. "Leave me alone," he grumbled, not wanting her to be around.

However, this didn't seem to deter Lilith. Rather, it seemed to only encourage her more. "So, what's a handsome Absol like you doing in a place like this?" she asked, drawing herself closer to him. Again, he shifted away from her.

As I watched this, I felt something building up in my chest. I wanted to go over and throttle that bitch. How dare she do that to Soru? Where did she get the idea that she could approach Soru like that and—?

I stopped myself. _Why am I thinking like that?_ It wasn't like me at all. I mean, I would get mad at people. And I certainly didn't like the way she was going at Soru. But to really want to hurt someone? I guess it was just because of how I thought of Soru. He had been a good friend to me since he rescued me. Teaching me how to use Shadow Ball, giving me someone to talk to. Not to mention he was handsome…

_Handsome?_ I shook my head. No, I couldn't think like that. Could I? After all, he was a natural born Absol and I…I was human. Call me crazy. I may not have looked it, but in my mind, I still considered myself as such.

I looked back over. Soru was now sitting up now, looking over Lilith. "Yeah, I guess Kirk's a nice guy," he said kind of reluctantly. He didn't seem to want to talk to her, but it appeared that she had gotten to him somehow.

She giggled in a sickeningly attempt to sound cute. As I listened, that bitter feeling toward that Glameow rose in my chest again. I couldn't stick around without going after her. I left the living room, so I wouldn't end up heading those feelings. Not like it mattered. Lilith clearly didn't care about whether or not I existed. I could only hope that Soru didn't share that sentiment.


	9. Chapter 8: Attraction

**A/N: Hey, it's finally done. I know I told some of you that the next chapter would be out on the 10th of July. Unfortunately, two things prevented that from happening. First, my mom started taking over the computer for hours on end playing Spider Solitare and such. Second, I started to get sick, making it a lot harder to concentrate on typing. I planned on finishing the chapter tomorrow, but I sort of got in a groove and couldn't stop writing.**

**I should hopefully get one more chapter done this summer. I have a number of summer projects to do, as well as college visits. But I don't think there will be as long of a wait for the next chapter. So now, here's the newest chapter. Enjoy.**

**Chapter 8: Attraction**

"Ugh…"

For the umpteenth time that afternoon, I was pulling myself back to my feet. It was the first time in a while that Soru and I had gotten to the park and had the opportunity to really practice Shadow Ball. But things weren't going that well. I was having more trouble than ever with it. Soru looked at me, shaking his head. It was clear that he was disappointed by my lack of headway.

"Amber, I can tell something's wrong," he said, having noticed how down I was. "Is something bothering you?"

I avoided looking at him directly. Indeed, I was having a hard time concentrating. "It's nothing important," I said, trying to downplay it some. I really did not want to talk about it with Soru.

However, Soru was quick to sense that I was holding back. "Your concentration is way off, Amber," he pointed out. "Obviously, it's more than you making it out to be."

I sighed. There was no way I could keep it from him. "I…I'm just worried about that Glameow," I admitted quietly. It had been a few weeks since Kirk and Michelle had started dating. Ever time, Soru and I found ourselves together with Lilith. And every time, she would never talk to me, but would instead try to go after Soru, against his objections. Every I watched the scene unfold, that anger rose within me.

"Don't worry about her," he stated definitely. "I don't have any sort of interest in her at all."

"Oh," I said, surprised by the suddenness of his response. "I guess I overreacted a bit."

Soru placed a paw on my shoulder. "It's no big deal," he assured me. "When she comes over tonight, I'm going to tell her flat out that I'm not interested."

Having him attest of his indifference toward Lilith allowed my mind to relax some. It was satisfying to know that everything would be settled after the next visit. I was able to return my focus back on what we were there to do. I looked out across the field, making sure that no unfortunate bystander was standing out there, at risk of being hit. Then, I looked back to Soru for his approval. He nodded silently.

I shut my eyes, focusing entirely on what I wanted to do. Instantly, I could sense that spiritual energy surrounding me. But it felt different. For whatever reason, it didn't seem as unruly as usual. I proceeded to open my eyes and saw the energy surrounding me. So far so good. Cautiously, I drew my breath in slowly. A tiny orb began to manifest in front of my nose. I was amazed. Everything was going perfectly. Soon enough I had a full-sized orb in front of me.

I don't know how long I just held it there. This was the first time that I had actually managed to summon something like this. But I knew I wasn't finished. I still needed to launch the attack. Almost instinctively, I released all the air in my lungs. The orb shot out from in front of me, like a shell from a cannon. I was surprised by the recoil and was knocked off my feet. I managed to look up and watch as the orb shot across the field, toward the bushes on the opposite side.

Soru acted quickly to prevent the attack from doing damage to any bystander. With a quick jerk of his head, he launched a blade of pressurized air after the orb. His attack caught up with mine and they collided in a spectacular explosion.

"I…did it?" I asked, astonished by what I had done. Slowly, I pulled myself back to my feet. My breathing was a little labored and I felt a bit drained. But I felt a sudden rush of excitement as the realization sank in. "I did it!"

I jumped in the air, excited to have finally succeeded. I glanced over at Soru. He didn't say anything, but he did little to hide the grin on his face. I ran over to him and hugged him around the neck, earning a surprised gag from him.

Then, I did something completely unexpected. Without thinking twice about it, I kissed Soru. Okay, it wasn't a full-fledged locking of lips or anything of that sort. It was just a little peck on the cheek. But it was a kiss nonetheless. It took a moment for my brain to register what I did. When it did, I immediately released my embrace on Soru. I could feel my cheeks heating up as blood rushed into them.

I laughed nervously. "Sorry about that," I apologized, rubbing the back of my head. I suddenly wanted to get away.

Soru looked extremely shocked. His eyes had dilated to nearly twice their normal size. I think that he wanted to say something to me, but couldn't put it in words. All the while, I noticed that his cheeks were getting a bit redder every second. Then, without saying another word, I just walked away. I cannot recall where exactly I went, but I remember that wherever I was, I was questioning myself intensely.

* * *

My mind was in a jumble, trying to piece together what had just happened. Did she really do what I thought she had just done? I reached up with my paw, gently touching the spot on my left cheek where her lips had come in contact with my skin. As I carefully drew my paw across the spot, a cold shiver went through my body. It was hard to comprehend, but it really happened. Amber kissed me.

_But why?_ I wondered to myself. After all, she never really showed me this kind of affection before. Did that mean she really liked me? Or was it just the excitement of the moment that got to her? I didn't know, and it was driving me insane.

I looked around the field, spotting Amber over with Kirk. He was congratulating her, scratching behind her ears like I had seen him often do. That feeling of jealousy rose again, but not just because of Kirk being with Amber. For whatever reason, Kirk treated me differently from her. Most of the attention he had ever given to me was a glance or something of that sort. I couldn't recall him ever giving me a pet or anything like that. It wasn't like he treated me cruelly. Just not with the same affection.

Not too long after, our party left the park. Kirk was carrying Amber in his arms like he usually would after we trained long and hard. She seemed especially tired today. Not that I could blame her. Using a move like Shadow Ball repeatedly for a creature of her stature had to be exhausting. Once back at the apartment, he set Amber down in her bed, careful not to wake her up.

Kirk went on to get prepared for another evening out. Meanwhile, I sat out in the living room, trying to figure out what to say to Lilith. It should've been easy. After all, I didn't really like her. She was very discomforting. Not to mention a little bit unattractive.

But those nights, as I was forced to talk to her, I felt something. It wasn't something that I wanted to feel, but it was there. A desire. It was different, yet all too familiar. It wasn't like how I felt toward Amber. No, this was something stronger. And something more frightening.

Lust.

I remember hearing on some television program Kirk had been watching that it's considered one of seven deadly sins by humans. I had no doubts as to why. It's a most faux sentiment. You desire something greatly, and you stop at nothing to get it. Even if you do satisfy the desire, it only lasts for a little while. Remorse comes swiftly and leaves you feeling worse than before. And the only way to feel better was to return back to concupiscence. It's an endless cycle of addiction.

A knock interrupted my thoughts. That must have meant Kirk's girlfriend was here. That also meant one thing: Lilith. Kirk ran out of the kitchen and over to the door. Carefully, he opened up the door. "Hello, Michelle," he greeted her quietly.

"Why are you whispering?" asked Michelle.

"Mana's asleep," he replied. "She was training hard with Soru earlier and is pretty worn out."

"Oh," said Michelle. "Should I—?"

"No, not at all," insisted Kirk. "She can stay. I'm sure she'll behave."

He opened the door wider, allowing the feline to slink into the room. The moment she entered the room, that lustful desire slowly began to reemerge. Immediately, I attempted to suppress it, turning away from her and everyone else. _Don't think about it_, I told myself. _Don't let these feelings take you over again_.

"Hello, Soru."

I nearly jumped. Lilith was standing right next to me. She was looking up at me with her sly yellow eyes. For a moment, I found myself gazing at her, like I was in a trance. But I quickly broke eye contact, looking around the room instead. Unfortunately for me, Kirk was gone. It was just Amber and us.

Lilith gave a light laugh. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Please leave me alone," I said definitively, keeping my gaze toward the floor.

"Aw, why must you be like that?" she said, feigning hurt in her voice. She strutted around beside me, bringing herself closer to me.

I scooted away from her. "I don't know how you think things between us are, but it's not what you think," I said, trying to make my point clear. "I don't like you like you think I do."

Lilith chuckled. "Of course, you say that, but you don't mean it," she teased.

"I _do_ mean it, Lilith."

Again, she chuckled. "If you really mean what you say," she said, "then look at me and say it." She drew closer to me again.

Her persistence was beginning to annoy me. I turned to face her. "Look I don't—" For whatever reason, I cut myself off the moment I lay my eyes on her. That lustful desire rose within me again. I began to feel a sort of attraction toward her. My mind was telling me to look away, to not fall for the trick before me.

But…I…just…couldn't…do…it…

Lilith seemed to recognize that I was losing the internal struggle. She drew a paw across my face. "Now, what was that you were saying?" she asked.

"Uh…nothing," I answered in a monotonous voice.

She gave a satisfied smile. "That's what I like to hear." Then, she started to lean in toward me, bringing her face closer…and closer…and closer to mine. I found myself doing the same. But just before our lips were to make contact, something happened that stopped us.

"Soru?"

* * *

To say I was surprised about what I woke up to would be an understatement. After all, Soru had given me his word just that afternoon that he would end things once and for all with Lilith. But now, here he was, seemingly about to kiss her. I could feel myself getting angry again, much like I had that first night.

_But why do I care so much?_ I asked myself. After all, it wasn't like I had any personal interest in Soru, right? I should've been happy for him that he found someone that liked him. Yet something just didn't feel right.

"What's going on here?" I asked, trying to act as cool as I possibly could.

Lilith looked toward me with supreme annoyance. "It's none of your business," she said, turning back to Soru quickly.

It was during that exchange I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. When Lilith wasn't looking toward Soru, he looked confused, like he didn't know what was going on. But the instant Lilith made eye contact with Soru again, his composure changed. He seemed to be drawn to her in some way.

I noticed the most change in his eyes. He tried his best to not look at her when she turned to face me, but as soon as she looked into his eyes, a strange lustful desire seemed to emanate from them. It was like he was in some sort of trance. Something didn't seem right at all. I stalked angrily toward the two of them.

The Glameow heard me and turned her attention back to me. "What do you want now?" she snapped, her discontent now much more evident.

"We need to talk. Now," I demanded, not backing down in the least bit. I wasn't going to let her try and slip out of it.

She sighed. "Fine, fine." But right before she left, she glanced back at Soru. "Be back in a minute, sweetie." I would've smacked her right there had I not been afraid of retaliation from Soru. Instead, I guided her out to the kitchen, keeping myself between her and Soru. She wasn't going to get back out there without going through me first.

Once we reached the kitchen, Lilith turned to me. "So what is it you want to talk about?" she asked, as if she didn't know.

"You know damn well what I want to talk about," I said, trying carefully not to raise my voice and attract Soru's attention. She seemed to want to retort, but I wasn't about to let her. "What have you done to Soru?"

"Do you mean mesmerizing him with my good looks?" she suggested, taking the time to strike a pose to show off her supposedly superior body. "I've been known to do that to some males."

I shook my head. "It takes a lot more than a few prissy poses to put Soru in a trance," I stated. "What are you trying to do?"

For a moment, Lilith didn't answer. But then, she began to laugh. "Silly little Eevee, it's quite obvious what I'm trying to do," she said cheerfully. However, her mood changed in an instant. "You don't know how long I've searched for someone that could be my mate. Something strong enough, someone smart enough…" For a moment, she paused, as if to build up a dramatic effect. "Someone easy to manipulate."

Her revelation only made me even angrier. "So you're trying to pleasure yourself by taking advantage of someone else?" I questioned. "That's just wrong!"

Lilith could barely contain a laugh. "Please, you obviously have no idea about how love works between Pokemon," she chided. "It's all about trying to use your natural charm to get the best guys. But if that doesn't work, it's not a crime to provide a little _attraction_ of your own."

"You really think you can do that?" I argued. "Without your tricks, Soru will never like you at all."

"Is that so?" she asked. "From what he told me about you, he was disappointed about you. You must not be a good mate."

I recoiled a bit at that suggestion. "He's not my mate!" I denied fiercely. My cheeks began to feel a little warm.

"Is that so?" she inquired curiously. She began to walk around me, as though she was sizing me up. "Then why do you even bother trying to stop me?"

I bowed my head and shut my eyes, trying to come up with a reason. "Because…Soru is my friend," I began. I raised my head as my confidence grew. "And I don't want to see him being manipulated by a foul slut like you!"

Lilith did little to hold back a laugh. "Please, save the whole moral crap for somebody who actually cares. You obviously have listened to too many human love stories. We Pokémon find mates as a convenience, not for relationships."

"So you would rather have a mesmerized tool than someone who actually cares?"

She just shrugged. "If he doesn't provide the satisfaction I'm looking for, I'll just find someone else," she said. "It's not like he's anything special anyway…"

Something within me snapped. Without thinking twice, I lunged toward that Glameow. I knocked her onto her back, despite the fact that she was twice my size. "Take…that…back…bitch."

She didn't say anything back. Instead, she responded by swiping me across the face with fully extended claws. I recoiled backward off of her as I felt the stinging pain of the air licking the newly formed welts.

"Humph, pathetic," she berated. "I don't even know why Soru would even bother with someone like you."

I charged at her again, intent on shutting her up. However, she was much more prepared this time around. She sidestepped, sending me sliding across the kitchen floor. I was just able to prevent myself from crashing into the fridge. I quickly turned around, only to find myself having to dodge another swipe of her claws.

Quickly, trying to take advantage of her miscue, I tackled her again. This time, we ended rolling around on the floor, swiping at each other. I would spit out a curse word whenever she managed to nail me with her claws. Suddenly, I found myself pinned to the ground, Lilith standing over. She had an evil grin as she raised her claws to strike an uncontested blow. But then…

"What's going on here?"

Lilith and I looked toward the entrance. Soru was standing there, a confused look on his face. He looked between the two of us, slowly beginning to realize what had happened.

Lilith got off of me. "That little bitch attacked me for no reason!" she accused, pointing toward me.

Soru looked surprised. "Amber?" he asked, looking skeptical about her claim. I noticed again that he wasn't looking at her directly. He turned to me. "Is that true?"

"Soru, she's trying to get to you," I warned, hoping he would understand. "She doesn't give a damn about you! All she is looking for is sex."

Now he looked back toward Lilith. Unfortunately, he locked eyes with her. He began to fall into that trance again. I wasn't about it happen to him again. Pulling myself back to my feet, I charged at Lilith, trying to stop her.

Suddenly, I was blown back across the kitchen, crashing into the cabinets. Uttering a pained groan, I looked up. Soru had just sent me flying across the kitchen with a Razor Wind. I noticed a major change in his composure. He looked furious, moving to stand between Lilith and myself.

"Never do that again," he stated.

I was shocked by this sudden change in demeanor. "Soru, I—"

"Look, you attention-seeking whore, I've had enough of your lies."

There was nothing but silence. My jaw dropped in pure shock. _He didn't just say that_, I tried to tell myself. But he did. And he sounded like he meant it. Lilith beamed at me, a look of satisfaction on her face. She now walked right up next to Soru, who didn't seemed fazed by her getting close to him. In fact, he seemed quite satisfied about it.

I couldn't stand it anymore. I ran out of the kitchen, not bothering to look at them. Somehow, I made it to my bed. I buried my head in the pillow and started to cry. It was even worse than the first night I spent alone in the alleys. I had lost humanity then, but it felt like I had lost so much more now.

* * *

As soon as I said those words, I began to regret them. It was bad enough that I had attacked her, yet this felt worse. I didn't want to say them, knowing full well the damage that could be done. But against my will, I did, leaving me to watch helplessly as she ran out of the room crying. I wanted to go after her and comfort her. Something was holding me back, however. Her.

Lilith looked out the doorway after Amber, shaking her head. "I almost feel sorry for her," she commented. She turned back to me. "Now, where were we?"

I could feel her influence reaching into me again. But this time, I didn't want to give into her. My mind was beginning to overpower my body at last. No longer would I let lust overpower me again.

"No."

She tilted her head. "What do you mean 'no'?" she asked. A vein seemed to pop in her head out of annoyance.

I turned to her, gazing straight into her eyes. "I refuse to do anything else you say."

I don't think Lilith was happy about that. Angrily, she tried to scratch me across the face. But I saw that coming. Before she knew what hit her, I sent her back across the kitchen with a Razor Wind, sending her into the same cabinets Amber had crashed into moments before. She tried to stand back up, but she was obviously in too much pain, collapsing into a heap.

I smiled. I had defeated it. Lust. No longer was that force influencing me. But my elation was short lived. _Amber._ I ran out to the living room. There, I spotted her, crying in her bed. All elation I had felt was replaced by guilt. I had to explain to her.

"Amber, I—"

As soon as she heard my voice, she stopped crying. However, she refused to look me in the eye. "Go away," she demanded, her voice a little shaky.

I swallowed. "Amber, please listen," I begged, trying to garner her attention. "I…You know I wouldn't say that."

"You wouldn't say that?" asked Amber rhetorically. "I think you would say that." She turned around. She looked terrible. Her eyes were red from crying so much. The fur on her face was matted with her tears, the marks on her face from Lilith's claws almost emphasized. "As a matter of fact, you _did_ say that."

I looked away for a moment in guilt. She was absolutely right. "But please, I didn't mean it," I continued to implore. "I wasn't myself." I pointed out to the kitchen. "That bitch was manipulating me!"

Amber chuckled. But it wasn't her usual light, friendly one. This one was haughty and deep. "Oh, she was manipulating you, huh?" she said. "Then why didn't you fight it?"

"I was trying to fight it, but it was harder than I thought." I looked up in her face. "Please, I wasn't the one who said it. You must believe me!"

For a moment, she said nothing. Maybe she was thinking about it. Perhaps she would believe what I told her. But then…

Smack!

Amber didn't hold back in the slightest bit as she slapped me across the face with her paw. Then, without saying another word, she walked off toward Kirk's bedroom, leaving me sitting there alone.

Gingerly, I reached up to where she slapped me. It was the same spot that just hours before she had kissed me. I could feel the spot heating up as blood rushed to it. The stinging sensation lingered for a while, not really getting any better or worse. It resonated through me, all the way to my heart. I had been hurt many times in many ways before, but this felt much worse than anything else did.

Silently, I bowed my head in shame. Hot tears rolled down my cheeks, doing little to soothe the pain. It finally began to sink in how badly I had screwed up. I had let lust, that deadly sin of unfaithfulness and unadulterated desire, take me in as its slave. It clouded my judgement, making me crave something that I didn't truly want. And by the time that I rebuked it, it was too late.

I lost her.


	10. Chapter 9: Repairing the Bonds

**A/N: It can't be. Can it? It is. _The Light in the Darkness_ has officially returned to the fan fiction world. Let the celebrations begin...or not.**

**Anyway, I want to apologize for such a long wait for this chapter. I've been extremely busy these past few months, between school, college visits and applications, a One-Shot Contest on another site, taking part in the high school play, preparing and working on my Eagle Scout project, and numerous other things that I probably have forgotten about now, but prevented me from finishing this chapter as quickly as I wanted to. But now, I'm back. Hopefully, I'll have the next chapter out in a much shorter time period. I'm already taking time away from my Eagle Scout project write-up, which has to be handed in before the 29th.**

**Perhaps I should just stop talking and let you go ahead and read the new chapter. Besides, I expect that most of you have already gone ahead and skipped this anyways. So enjoy. And be sure to review.**

**Chapter 9: Repairing the Bonds**

Kirk and Michelle broke up. I don't know if the events of that night factored into the final decision to end it, but I'm sure that it didn't help matters. To say that I was relieved that it was over would be a gross understatement. No more Kirk dressing up fancy in the evenings. No more having to watch Michelle fawning over Amber. But best of all, no more of that slut, Lilith.

But things were far from perfect in the apartment. Amber hated me. She refused to speak to me at all. Heck, she wouldn't even stay in the same room as me. The moment I would set foot in a room, she would get up and walk out. Initially, I didn't think that it would last too long, especially after the news of Kirk's break-up. However, a week passed and Amber still held that vendetta against me.

That's not to say I didn't try to apologize to her. Indeed, I approached her few times, pleading my case to her, as I had done that night. However, she absolutely refused to listen to what I had to say. Without saying a thing, she would get up and walk out of the room. And as she walked out, she would shoot me a sad, betrayed look that never failed to affect me.

I just felt terrible. What I had said really hurt her. And now, I couldn't even let her know how sorry I was. Desperately, I tried to think of some sort of solution to the matter. But much to my dismay, nothing came forward. It was like all hopes of reconciling with her were slowly dying away.

Eventually, I relegated myself to Kirk's bedroom. I found myself looking out the window. It was far different from the last time I looked out of it. I mean, all the buildings were the same. But just the whole atmosphere had changed. It was rainy and gloomy, unusual for August in the city. The skyscrapers in the distance were dull pillars of steel and glass reaching skyward. Even the park, which normally stands out amongst the buildings, seemed less alive. And amongst it was my reflection, just sitting there like a watermark in a book.

I had to take my gaze away. I couldn't stand looking out there. Before when I looked out with Amber, the city seemed bright and welcome to opportunities. But now, it was stark portrait, one of mourning. And I was the centerpiece.

The door creaked behind me. "Soru?"

I perked up a little bit. _Could it…?_ I turned around, my hopes high. But they were almost instantly. "Oh, hello Paco."

The Lombre stood near the door. "What's the matter, hombre?" he asked, walking over to the bed. "What's messing with your cabeza?"

I sighed, turning away from him. Paco was the last Pokemon that I wanted to talk to at the time. He didn't strike me as the kind that would be serious in this sort of situation. That last thing I needed was for him to pry at me.

"Just leave me alone, Paco," I said. "I'm not in the mood."

For a moment, things were quiet. I thought that he had left. But then, I felt the bed shift under me as he jumped onto it. I turned back to window, hoping that he would get the message that I didn't want to talk. However, it didn't work.

"Come on, Soru," he implored, standing next to me. "You look more depressed than usual."

I thought about slugging him at the time.

Reluctantly, I gave in, knowing that nothing was going to stop Paco from interrogating me. "It's Amber," I said quietly. "She…she's refusing to talk to me."

"Wow, what happened to cause that?"

I hesitated, not wishing to disclose what happened to him. However, I thought about when I told him about my early feelings toward Amber. He had never exposed them to anyone else, at least as far as I knew. Perhaps I could trust him now as well.

So, I told him about everything that happened. Much to my surprise, he didn't interrupt. He just listened.

When I finished, Paco shook his head. "You really fucked up, hombre."

"Tell me something I don't know," I replied back, my frustration beginning to show. "What am I supposed to do?"

Paco contemplated for a moment. "Well, what did you say exactly when you tried to apologize esta noche?"

Although I didn't quite understand the last two things he said, I figured out what he was talking about. "I told her that I was sorry…and that it wasn't my fault. I told her that I was being controlled and I didn't have any control over what I was saying and…what?"

Paco was shaking his head. "There's your problem right there," he said.

"What is?"

"You were trying to shift the blame away from yourself here," he explained. "And while you didn't mean to say it, you _did_ say it."

I opened my mouth to argue, but I quickly shut it once the realization hit me. He was right. I wasn't thinking about it from her view. She may have known that Lilith was doing something to me. After all, she did confront her that night. She was trying to help me, to save me from my own error.

But in the end, I was the one that let myself be controlled, even though I knew better. I was the one that became corrupted by a satanic creature. And I was the one that said those slanderous things to Amber.

All of it…was my fault.

I bowed my head in shame. I felt even lower than before. "What have I done?" I asked out loud. "Why did I let myself do that?" Tears rolled down my cheeks again.

Paco placed one of his webbed hands on my shoulder, trying to find a way to comfort me in some way. He said nothing, but his actions provided me a comfort that nothing could have done.

I looked over to Paco. "What can I do?" I asked, wiping away my tears. "How can I ever let her know how I really feel?"

"The only thing I can think of is to wait," he said shaking his head. "She'll come around eventually."

"Isn't there any other way?"

Again, Paco shook his head. "It's better to wait for her to let you apologize."

I sighed. Even though I really didn't want to, waiting seemed like the only option. The fact was that only she could accept my apology. And at that time, it didn't seem like she was ready yet. I didn't know if it would be a few hours or a few weeks, but no matter how long it took, I would wait for her.

"Thanks for the advice, Paco," I said, somewhat impressed by his wisdom. "You know, you're smarter than lead on at times."

Paco smiled, getting up to leave. "Well, I try, hombre. I just—"

He was cut off as he accidentally walked off the bed, landing face first into the ground. I sat there, feeling embarrassed for him.

"Yeah, forget what I just said," I said, retracting my previous observation. I guess it didn't matter if he was smart. He was still the same, mixed-up Lombre. And frankly, it was nice to have someone who could be friendly with me, even if they were just a bit abnormal.

* * *

I sat outside Kirk's bedroom, listening to Soru and Paco talk. I don't recall what exactly compelled me to do so. Perhaps I had wanted to see if Soru would give me another reason for me to antagonize him after what he had done. Or it could've been that I was bored. But whatever intentions, malicious or not, I may have had when I began to eavesdrop weren't there by the end. Silently, trying not to alert them to my presence, I walked back out to the living room, my mind still buzzing over what I heard.

Once I was back in the living room, I went and sat down on my bed. There wasn't much else for me to do. I'd endured that boredom for most of the week, the only fun coming when Kirk would give me pets or something. And even then, it wasn't much. It wasn't anything like talking to Soru, which I hadn't done since that night.

Those words still stung me immensely. He was the only creature that seemed to be on my side and then he went and demeaned me like that. It was painful. If that weren't enough, he tried to shift all the blame onto Lilith. Yes, I knew that she was manipulating him, but that didn't excuse his actions.

I couldn't stand to be near him. Every time I would, he would approach me and insist that it wasn't his fault. I considered smacking him again, but felt that it would be redundant. He still didn't seem to get it and I doubt more violence would persuade him otherwise. So I did the next best thing: ignore him. To be honest, I was willing to accept an apology from him, if he showed to me that he regretted his actions.

But now that he had, even though he didn't express it directly toward me, I felt guilty. The way he reacted when he finally realized what he did wrong was totally against his character. I had never seen him show his emotions so outwardly. I thought about it some. Maybe I was being hard on him. Maybe he didn't have the self-control that I thought he did. The way he just reacted seemed to suggest that.

At this point, Soru walked into the room, followed closely behind by Paco. I shifted myself in my bed, so I wasn't making eye contact with him. Still, I was curious. So I glanced toward him out of the corner of my eye.

Now that he was closer, I could see how downtrodden he was. He seemed to walk heavily as he passed by. I'm sure he'd been like that all week, but this was the first time that I really paid attention to it.

He turned so now I got a frontal view of his face. I could see many emotions reflected in his face, but there was one common theme amongst them: self-hatred. It made me so guilty to see that, knowing that he probably wouldn't be feeling that way if I had forgave him to begin with. For a moment, it looked as though he would approach me to apologize. But he remembered the advice that was given to him, and he walked away, leaving me alone again.

I lay there in bed, trying to come up with some way to catalyze some sort of apology. I thought about the advice that Paco had given Soru. If I recalled correctly, I had to approach Soru myself. That was a given. However, it came down to when to do so. Frankly, I wanted to go up to him right then and there and encourage him to apologize. But that might not have been the best course of action. It would seem like I was forcing him to apologize. Not to mention that Paco would probably be around. I don't know why, but I really wanted any apology to me to be personal.

Instead, I elected to wait until Soru and I were completely alone. That meant having to wait for Paco to leave. I looked up at the clock in the kitchen. It was only two in the afternoon. Alex and Paco probably wouldn't leave until it got dark. I groaned out of frustration, burying my head into the bed. It was going to be a long few hours. But I had to endure it.

As I waited for the opportunity to arise, I found myself thinking about Soru. But unlike most of the week before then, I was thinking of him in a much more positive light. I knew that once I talked to him, he was going to give me the apology that I had been long awaiting.

Not that I wasn't expecting him to do so before. I felt that he would've eventually apologized to me in a way that I would believe him. I knew he wouldn't have given up until I accepted. He was that persistent and stubborn. I actually kind of admired it, even when I was mad at him.

Finally, after seemingly endless hours, Alex and Paco left. Right before he left, Paco was whispering something to Soru. I wasn't sure, but I guessed that he was still talking about me, considering the not-so-subtle gestures he made toward my bed or me.

I had already planned to approach Soru during dinner to see if he would be willing to apologize. I went out to the kitchen, just as Kirk was pouring bowls of food for Soru and I. He set my bowl on the floor in front of me, giving me a pet on the head before returning to the counter to prepare his own dinner.

I hesitated to eat right away. Instead, I watched the doorway, waiting for Soru to enter the room. It shouldn't have taken long. He had to have heard Kirk pouring the food into the bowl. But he didn't come. I don't know how long I was there, waiting for Soru to appear.

_Perhaps he's not hungry_, I thought to myself, trying to reason why he wasn't there. Even during that week, he would enter the kitchen and eat dinner while I was eating. I was the one that usually stood him up and left the room. Was he giving me a taste of my own medicine?

Even though I was hungry, I was more curious about Soru. So, ignoring the pangs of my stomach demanding nourishment, I went out to the living room. Sure enough, there he was, lying in bed. I approached his bed, only to have him turn over and see me.

He looked up at me with a mixture of confusion and surprise. "Amber?" he asked in obvious disbelief.

For a moment, I wanted to leave. But if I was going to let Soru apologize, I supposed that there would be no better time than then. So I sat down beside the bed, not saying a single word. I was going to let him figure it out for himself.

At first, I don't think he understood. He just looked even more confused. But he quickly caught on. He sat up, but even still, he was almost submissive in his demeanor.

"Amber, I want to tell you that I'm sorry about what I said to you," he said, averting his gaze like he wasn't worthy to look at me. "It was my fault. Everything I did and said I could've prevented, but I didn't. Instead I let things get worse.

"But what I'm most sorry about is that I hurt you, Amber. I…I don't know if you know. The truth is that you…you're one of the few real friends that I've ever had. Even then, I don't think any of them looked at me in the same way as you do. And I certainly never looked at them in that way either. Seeing you hurt, and knowing that I was the cause of your pain, I…it…" His voice dropped off and he was at a complete loss for words. "Amber, please. I'm sorry."

I was thoroughly touched by his words. He seemed so sincere in his apology; I wanted to hug him right then and there. But I held myself back. I don't recall why, perhaps I just didn't think that the time was right.

Soru was expecting a response. I know he was. He had given me the apology that I'd been waiting for, yet I was as silent as I had been all week. He looked devastated as he lay back down, not looking in my direction at all.

I smiled, a mixture of relief and happiness, and walked over to a spot on the floor right behind his head. He didn't seem to realize that I was there, which was just as well.

I leaned over to the side of his head. "Soru, I forgive you," I whispered.

That was all that I intended to do. Say those words and end the whole stalemate so we could move on with our lives. But I did something else. I leaned over even further and kissed him on the cheek, in the same spot that I had hit him a week before.

Needless to say, Soru was surprised. He flipped over so fast that I had no time to prepare for it. I was thrown into the side of the loveseat. Luckily, the sides were cushioned. I literally bounced off the side and landed across Soru's chest.

I groaned, looking up at him. He was very concerned. "Amber, are you okay?" he asked.

I chuckled a little. "Don't worry, I'm fine," I said, rubbing the back of my head. "I didn't expect you to react so suddenly."

Meanwhile, Soru was feeling his cheek. "D-Did you just kiss me?" he asked.

I blushed a little. "Yes, I guess I did," I confessed, feeling embarrassed yet again. "I…well, I guess I was a little excited."

He chuckled nervously, obviously not what to really think. "You…you actually forgive me, Amber?"

I nodded. "I'm sorry that I took so long," I said. "I didn't know how honest you were. But after hearing you and Paco talking this afternoon…"

"Wait, you were listening to us?"

"Yes, I was. When I saw you sitting there and heard what you told Paco, I realized you were being honest."

He gave a sigh of relief, causing me to rise and fall with his chest. He noticed the surprised look on my face. I laughed it off before sliding off his chest back to the floor. He had a smile on his face as he got to his feet.

I was somewhat enamored as I watched as Soru stood up and stretched out his long, powerful limbs. Even under his thick coat, I could see much of the muscle in his frame. For a moment, I found myself thinking about how soft his fur was, having felt it for the first time up against my face…

_Whoa, back up, Amber_, I thought to myself. It was back. It was the same sort of thing that happened when I first saw Lilith hitting on Soru. That…feeling. Where was it coming from?

"Amber, are you okay?"

I looked up. Soru was walking over toward the kitchen, but he had stopped. He was obviously waiting for me.

"Sure," I answered, walking up next to him. "Soru?"

He stopped yet again and turned to me. "Yes, Amber?"

"What you were saying earlier…about me being one of the few real friends that you've ever had. Is that true?"

Soru nodded. "It is. Actually, you are probably the best friend that I've ever had. Amber, I—"

But before he could say anything else, my stomach decided to make itself known, grumbling audibly. We looked at each other for a moment before I gave an embarrassed chuckle. Soru didn't laugh, but he did smile a bit.

"I guess that we should get something to eat," I suggested, now beginning to feel the effects of hunger.

Soru grunted in agreement. With that, we headed into the kitchen to get dinner, once again as friends. At least, that's what I thought.


	11. Chapter 10: What is This Feeling?

**A/N: No, you're not seeing things. This is a new chapter of _The Light in the Darkness_. I apologize for being late yet again. The last few months of high school and the college selection process were very stressful. But finally, I completed this chapter. Not much happens, but there is a lot of emotional stuff going on. It's probably not the best that I've ever done, but I promise that the next chapter will be more exciting.**

**As for when to expect a new chapter, I hope again that it won't take this long. However, I'm going down to Virginia Tech for a five week program to prepare for college. The good news is that I'll have a laptop, but I don't know how much I'll be able to work on it. I do want to thank everybody for their patience. After that, I have no idea what's going to happen. Still, with my own laptop coming, I should be able to spend more time writing...I mean, doing school work. Yeah, school work.**

**Anyway, here's the chapter.**

************

Chapter 10: What is This Feeling?

A strange thing happens when you are in an unfamiliar place. Time seems to pass a lot faster than you realize especially if you can't keep track of it. For a while, I had no idea what the day was. Finally, I managed to catch it on the morning news and was surprised to learn that it was nearly August. I had been Eevee for going on three months. It was hard to believe; I could remember waking up in that cage at Gilroy like it was yesterday.

Not much happened after my reconciliation with Soru. The daily routine remained the same. The only notable change may have been that Soru was a little more open to conversing with me. Otherwise, I spent most of my time lying around the apartment bored out of my mind. It was times like that that I really missed being human.

I missed the freedom that I had as a human, being able to go wherever I wanted to, whenever I wanted to. I missed being in my old body and being able to talk to other humans. It was hard for me to listen to people talk. I wanted to express myself, to verbally communicate in some form that they could understand.

Then there was my family. To be honest, I really hadn't thought much about them at first. There were more pressing matters that occupied my mind. But every once in a while, they would cross my mind. I mainly thought about my parents. As a human, I always tried to distance myself from them, like most teenagers would do. I didn't tell them that I had received a letter from Kyle, or that I was going to Gilroy. What a mistake that was.

I could only imagine how much they were worried about me. They didn't know if I was alive or dead. I had thought about sending them a message of some kind, to let them know that I was okay. But my paths of communication were limited. I once thought about using Kirk's laptop, sending them an e-mail message. However, I discovered that there all sorts of passwords protecting his computer, making it almost impossible. Reluctantly, I was forced to give up.

Still, even though there were some nice things about being a Pokemon, I didn't want to remain one. I was born a human, grew up a human, and I had planned out my life as a human. Presented the opportunity, I would become a human again, without a second thought…

…Or maybe not.

As unlikely as it seemed, I was actually getting used to being an Eevee. There were things about being a Pokemon that I kinda liked. I didn't have to worry about all the things that I would think about as a human. I could sleep as long as I wanted to. Kirk made sure that food was always available. Strangely enough, it was almost like I was on vacation.

But I think the biggest reason that I began to enjoy this new life was Soru. When I first met him at the hospital, he seemed so distant from everyone else. But from the moment I started living with Kirk and him, he had done so much to make me feel comfortable in Kirk's home. He had been very patient when I first arrived, answering pretty much every question that I asked him, even if they may have seemed ridiculous to him. He always seemed aware of how I was feeling. There were a few rough spots, disagreements over certain matters, but we always seemed to find a way to solve these problems. I felt that I could go to Soru and tell him almost anything—worries, frustrations, hopes—and he wouldn't shove it off.

I say almost anything because there was still the matter of my true identity. I had often considered telling Soru the truth, that I was once human. Yet every time it would cross my mind, I would shoot the idea down. I would attempt to rationalize my decision. At first, I told myself that he wouldn't understand the complexity of my situation, of how I ended up as an Eevee. He was, after all, a Pokemon. But as I got to know him, I found that he was very intelligent and astute. It wouldn't have surprised me in the least if he did suspect there was something different about me.

I think that the only way I could justify not telling Soru the truth was I was afraid he would think of me differently. The last thing that I wanted to happen was for him to think that I was acting like someone that I wasn't, especially after the Lilith incident. That being the case, I remained silent about my past.

Still, Soru was somebody that I could talk. Well, he was pretty much the only one that I talk to, but I was glad that I was living with him rather than some other Pokemon. He was not only a friend, but he was probably the best friend that I'd ever had, Pokemon or human.

And yet, I had an intuition that there was something else there. I began to have these strange…feelings whenever I thought about Soru. They didn't seem like much at first, perhaps an occasional pang here and there. It was never anything major. But the more time I spent with, the more they stood out. The more…I wanted to be with him.

I tried to dismiss them. I would tell myself that I was just very appreciative for all that he had done for me. _Surely,_ I reasoned, _they will level off soon enough_. But this explanation only worked for a little while. They remained as strong as when I first noticed them.

Next, I attempted to scoff them. It was such a ridiculous concept after all. I mean, falling in love with a Pokemon? This wasn't some cheesy romance novel that teenage girls fawn over. This was real life. These things don't happen in the real world. It wasn't long, though, before this argument lost its merit as well. After all, according to the reality that I once knew, humans couldn't be transformed into Pokemon, yet there I was. Maybe it wasn't so obscure after all.

After none of my attempts to deny these feelings worked, I tried to figure out what exactly was it that was drawing me to him, just to figure out if these feelings were really genuine. I already mentioned how friendly he was to me. That was probably the biggest factor. But there was something else that attracted me to him. He was also pretty good looking. As a human, I probably never would've thought about a Pokemon in such a way. But having been around him as long as I had, I began to appreciate how handsome a creature he was. His pure white fur, that powerful body…I didn't need to know anything about a Pokemon's anatomy to know that Soru's physique was amazing. He was much larger than I was, but he knew how to carry himself in such a way that it was comfortable to be around him. I found myself openly staring at him at times, sometimes drawing a surprised reaction from him. This left me feeling a little embarrassed and trying to come up with some excuse.

Even though I kept doing this, he never got mad. It was just another example of his patience with me. Most of the time, these awkward encounters ended up turning into conversations. At first, they were pretty awkward, not unlike how the majority of our conversations had been up to that point. But they evolved into something really pleasant. We began to talk about subjects that we hadn't talked about before. I might bring up something that I noticed during our morning walk. He might comment on how he noticed how much fun I was having playing catch with Kirk in the park. It was amazing how much that we had to talk about with each other, even without bringing up my past. And by the end, Soru managed to smile.

I was beginning to accept that these feelings were real, but there was one last hurdle that kept me from confessing my feelings. Even though the odds were becoming slimmer with every day that passed, I still held hope that someday I could be human again. If I were to find an antidote, I couldn't be involved with Soru. It would be difficult for both of us to separate.

But another thought crossed my mind. _What if I never found a cure?_ It wasn't like somebody was going to suddenly come through the door with my saving grace. Returning to Gilroy was also out of the question. There would be no doubt that would recognize me; after all, I was the one that released the test subjects from the cages. Given the number of Pokemon there, it didn't appear that they had a cure at the time.

I knew that if I wanted to tell Soru that I loved him, I would have to tell him about my past as well. There was no way around it. But would he accept me if I did tell him the truth? I wanted to believe that he would, yet there was feeling in the pit of my stomach that, for whatever reason, he wouldn't. There was no reason for me to think he would reject me on such grounds, but that fear was strong and overwhelming.

Humanity and Soru. Two things that were seamlessly intertwined. Two things that were holding me captive. Two things that couldn't possibly coexist. Two things that I wanted, but were difficult to achieve.

Two things…that were tearing me apart.

* * *

_I found myself surrounded by darkness, unable to see anything around me. Slowly, the scene came into focus. I was in an alley in the city, well out of view of anybody on the streets. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the alley. That was until I heard a whimper. _

_Startled, I went into a defensive stance. "Who's there?" I called out. _

"_You did this to me!" a female voice spat vehemently. It was impossible to discern what exactly the voice was referring to, as the speaker was not visible from behind the trashcans._

"_I-I'm sorry," I replied, looking down at the ground, disgusted with myself. "I didn't…Please…"_

_Suddenly, a paw slapped me across the face, disrupting my plea. Not that it would've done any good. There was no soothing this anger. _

"_You're just like every other male in this city!" she shouted, continuing to berate me. "Cruel. Deceiving. It's…"_

_She didn't even finish. I heard footsteps running away out of the alley. Toward the street. Toward death._

_Desperately, I ran to try and stop her. But it was too late. A skid. A drawn out wail of the horn. And it was all over. I peered out the alley. Her broken body, still and unmoving, lay behind the car. Any pain that she must've felt was gone in an instant. But my pain was only beginning…_

I woke up with a start. For a moment, I just looked straight of me at the wall on the opposite side of the room as I tried to calm myself down. When that failed, I let out a frustrated groan and shook my head harshly, trying to drive all thoughts of the nightmare out of my mind. It's bad enough to have a nightmare once, but to keep constantly having the same one over and over, and no way to remedy it was truly frustrating.

I usually don't have any trouble getting to sleep, even with the threat of nightmares. Ever since I began living with Kirk, I found myself becoming lazier, since I didn't get as much exercise as I used to. It was easy to become bored lying around the apartment all day, especially since I had little use for all the facilities that Kirk used on a daily basis.

At first, it seemed that my most restless nights were a direct result of my premeditative senses. Often times, if a storm were approaching, they would awaken me. This was nothing new. I've experienced that all my life.

But there were a few instances that they picked up on something much more morbid. I remember getting up one morning after a particular grueling night and learning that one of the other occupants of the complex had a heart attack. Unfortunately, he passed on before anybody could reach him. I was left in a state of shock. I knew that I had powers of premonition, but never of that kind.

Perhaps because of the nature of my powers, I was also more prone to having bad dreams. Yet there was a lot that it didn't explain, such as the patterns or subject matter. For a while, after I first moved in with Kirk, I had these harsh, emotional dreams like the one that awoke this particular night. Only after I finally settled in did they not haunt me anymore. Even after Amber moved in and disrupted the flow I still hadn't had a bad dream in a while.

However, not long after Amber and I resolved our differences in the Lilith feud, I started having the nightmares again. At first, it was the same dreams as before. However, a few new dreams began to interject itself into the cycle. One dream in particular stood out in my mind. It was very different from the others. At this time, I can only vaguely remember the details. In it, I was in a cage somewhere, locked up. I could recall that there was a crushing sense of dread that suffocated me. The only other thing that I remember was a human appearing before my cage, a human with icy blue eyes.

I had no clue as to what this particular dream was depicting. Was it a dream about the future? It seemed possible, but I found a number of flaws in that idea. The cage in the dream would've been way too small to hold a creature of my size and the human would've been much too large. Perhaps it was just a bad dream, nothing more, nothing less. If that were the case, why was it repeating? And why were the other dreams back?

I got up out of my bed and began to pace around the living room, being careful to not wake anybody else up. I continued to try and discern the purpose of the dreams and their pattern. _They wouldn't keep happening if there weren't a reason_, I thought to myself. _But why? Why must they continue to haunt me?_

My eyes fell on Amber. Her bed was located in such a spot that the glow of the city lights shown through the window on her. Her figure stood out distinctly in the soft radiance. It was if someone, or something, wanted me to notice her.

That's when I was struck by an idea. Maybe it was because of Amber that my nightmares have persisted. But it wasn't just her. No, it was also how I felt toward her, feelings that had only continued to grow into something more.

This wasn't the first time that these feelings presented themselves in the presence of Amber. However, it was the first time that Amber seemed to return them. She wasn't very open about it, but she seemed to be giving me hints. I began to notice her glancing over at me more often during the day when we were alone. I wasn't mad at her, but I did have to question her on why she kept doing it.

This always elicited an embarrassed reply from her that somehow would lead to more extensive conversations, conversations which, much to my surprise, turned out to be fun and interesting. She started to move away from talking about the weather or training and began talking about more personal things. It was so different from what I was used to when I would talk to her that I couldn't help but enjoy it. In fact, I began to look forward to catching Amber peeking at me.

All the while, my feelings toward her increased to new levels. As they did, so did the nightmares. There had to be a connection. Those feelings must have left me more prone to nightmares than ever before. So if these dreams were associated with my feelings toward Amber, what were they trying to tell me? Were they a warning, trying to keep me from making the same mistakes that I made in the past?

_My past_…the thought of it made me stop in my tracks. I wasn't proud of my past at all. I did many things that I regret. How I wished that I could go back and change it all. How I wished that I never came upon that cursed city, that urban fortress.

Slowly, I walked back over to my bed. Standing around was going to do nothing to help me get back to sleep. Quietly, I fluffed up my bed and lay down. As I drifted off to sleep, lingering thoughts still bothered me.

_Does Amber actually like me like I think she does?_ I had some doubts, but I was somewhat confident that this might be true. Everything that she was showing through her actions and words seemed to indicate that perhaps she really does like me.

Could I really leave behind my past? Have I truly changed for the better? This is where I was worried. I had tried so hard to forget about everything that happened before I met Kirk. But it always haunted me. And worse, I felt those pangs trying to drag me back in. I was lucky that I was able to prevent myself from being taken over. Perhaps it was even luckier that I was able to repair my bonds with Amber. If I let myself lose control again, even for a little bit, I could kiss any chance of being with Amber behind.

I buried my head in my pillow. I couldn't afford to screw up anymore. I had to make sure that I never put myself in any kind of situation where I could be tempted again. Nothing was going to come between Amber and I.

Absolutely nothing…


	12. Chapter 11: An Unwanted Surprise

**A/N: No, you're not seeing things. It's a new chapter of _The Light in the Darkness_. This time around, I really do wish to apologize for being late with this. My first semester at college has been pretty stressful, and I haven't had a lot of time to write. I hope that you guys understand.**

**Now, as for the future of this story, I'm really trying to figure out how to do it. I have another idea for a story that I really want to do, but I'm still deciding on how to execute it. As well, I want to go back and edit this version of the story with some of the changes that I have made on other sites. The good news is that the next chapter or two of this story has already been layed a few times over, so it shouldn't take as long to write. Of course, I said that about this chapter as well, but...**

**Anyway, I'm sure you want to go ahead and read. All comments and suggestions are welcome.**

**Chapter 11: An Unwanted Surprise**

I remember that day quite well. It was a particularly lazy Saturday afternoon around the apartment. Kirk was busy working on a case report, or something of the sort on his laptop in the kitchen. Amber was lying on the floor in the living area, chewing on a toy lazily. I could tell that she was really bored. Truthfully, so was I. It had been almost a week or so since we spent an extended time in the park, as the weather had grown almost unbearably hot and humid.

I decided to try and break up the monotonous lifestyle we had been living by doing something that I hadn't done in since I first met Amber at the Pokemon Center: start a casual conversation with her. Sure, we often talked to each other, but it was always Amber who approached me. It was almost never the other way around.

But every time that I tried to approach her, I would get cold feet. I knew that I wasn't going to get berated at or anything. It was tough to just try to find a way to start the conversation. I don't know how Amber did it so effortlessly. Whenever I tried to, I would suddenly forget what I wanted to talk about.

Speaking of which, it was a bit difficult to figure out what to talk about with her. I spent a lot of time wracking my brain, trying to come up with a subject that she might be interested in. The only subject that I could think of that might interest her was evolution. After all, she was an Eevee. Surely they would talk amongst their kind about what they wanted to evolve into. Plus, I was curious. It wasn't something that I knew a lot about, since Absol don't evolve.

I sighed, trying to calm down my nerves. _Come on, Soru. Just say something to her._ I walked over and sat down next to her, trying to act as casual as possible.

"Hey."

Amber looked up. She almost did a double take when she recognized that I had approached her. "Oh, hi Soru," she said, trying to hide her surprise. "Is something wrong?"

"No," I replied. "I…just wanted to talk a little. I mean, there's nothing else to do."

She smiled. "Sure," she said kindly. "Well…what do you want to talk about?"

"I was wondering," I began, trying to keep myself from forgetting, "have you ever thought about evolution?"

She gave me an inquisitive look. "Evolution? What do you mean?"

"I mean, don't Eevees evolve into a number of Pokémon? I was wondering if you ever thought about what you might want to evolve into." I chuckled. "It's not like I'm ever going to get the chance to experience evolution myself."

Amber didn't reply right away. She looked down at her chew toy, contemplating it as if it was going to give her the answer. "I…well…" she muttered quietly. She brought her head back up. "I've never really thought it, honestly."

"Really?" I said, surprised. "Well…uh, okay. I thought that perhaps…" My voice dropped off. I had no idea what to say now that she had shot down the only subject that I could think of.

She looked back down. "It's not that important to me right now. I have other things that I'm worried about."

This remark intrigued me. "What do you mean?" I inquired. "It's not like someone's trying to hurt you." I paused when I noticed her uneasiness at what I said. "Right?"

It took a second for her to reply. "Right," she answered tersely, not bothering to look back up at me.

Something about her response seemed to suggest that she wasn't being honest with me. I considered trying to inquire further, but feared that trying to do so might create another rift between us. That was the last thing that I needed at this point.

Quietly, I got up and walked back over to my bed. I half-expected, half-hoped for Amber to say something to rekindle our conversation. However, she said nothing, and I sat back down on the cushion, disappointed at the results. It was so frustrating. I hadn't said anything wrong, yet she reacted really…strangely. Not like any Pokémon that I'd ever met would've reacted.

This wasn't the first time something she said or did peaked my interest. Her reaction to my question was the latest in a long line of strange behavior that I had noticed since she moved in. Perhaps one of the most noteworthy that I recall was finding her looking the newspaper. Now, I've looked at newspapers before, mainly out of curiosity, but have never been able to decipher those runes that humans use for communication. Amber, though, didn't seem confused at all. She seemed engrossed by what she was looking at. And it wasn't a one-time occurrence. I can remember it being at least a once weekly even, perhaps even more frequently.

Something she said was bugging me. She said that she had other things that she was worried about. What did she mean by that? What would she be worried about? I made a list of possible causes in my head.

_Jet?_ No, that couldn't be. From what I could recall her telling me, she had never encountered Jet before the night I rescued her. Plus, with all the training that I had done with her, she was confident she could hold her own against him.

_Lilith?_ Not her either. After Kirk and Michelle broke up, there had been no sign of Lilith. Not that she would even dare to show up around us again, especially after everything that occurred during her last visit.

_Paco?_ I had to suppress a chuckle. That was an utterly ridiculous notion. Sure, Amber was by no means enamored by Paco, but she wasn't afraid of him; at least, not from what she had told me.

It had to be something, or someone, that I wasn't aware of, something that happened to her from before she moved in. But what kind of trouble could she have gotten into? Maybe this was why she was so reluctant to tell me anything about where she came from.

Of course, the only way to find out would be to ask her. However, two things kept me from doing so. One was to obviously not make Amber uncomfortable. But I also felt a sort of guilt, as I was still not completely open with her. It would've been very contradictory of me to inquire about her past without bringing up mine in some manner. I knew that it was only a matter of time before I would have to discuss it with Amber. Even so, I continued to hope that I wouldn't have to talk about it.

Perhaps that's why I hadn't had the courage to tell Amber how I felt about her. I didn't even have the courage to talk about myself.

* * *

I cannot lie. I was caught completely off-guard when Soru approached me that afternoon. It was strange to have him approach me rather than the other way around. Yet I was also a bit honored that he approached me.

I felt a pang of guilt as I watched Soru walk away. I wish that I could've given him a straight answer to his question. I mean, how hard would it have been to lie? But I guess that was it. I was already lying to him a lot as it was, so I had to tell the truth every once in a while. And with that, I opened up a whole new can of worms.

_Perhaps I should think about what I would evolve into_, I considered. After all, the odds were that I wouldn't stay an Eevee forever. Sure, I wouldn't be a human, but it would certainly be different. Not to mention that I would have access to a whole new trough of abilities.

I tried to recall what I learned about Eevee evolution from my biology class. I remember learning that Eevee can evolve into one of seven different creatures, based upon different kinds of stimuli.

The first one that came to my mind was Vaporeon. It was a Water type and, from what I remember my teacher telling me, it was a powerful Pokémon. There were also a few neat tricks that only Vaporeon was capable of, such as dissolving into water. But being a Water type created a fundamental problem in that there wasn't much water around. Save for a small pond in the park, there weren't many bodies of water around. Being a Vaporeon in a city would've brought about many headaches for everybody.

Then there was Flareon. Should I evolve into one, I wouldn't have to go through a drastic change. After all, it didn't look much different from an Eevee, save for being slightly larger and having different fur color. And as an added bounce, I would never be cold. However, I was worried about having to learn about my new abilities in an apartment. To be perfectly frank, Kirk kept a very untidy apartment. It would only take one errant Ember coming in contact with some trash to set the whole apartment on ablaze.

Jolteon also came to mind. Out of all the evolutions, this was the one that I was most familiar with, as one of my friends had one. Being an Electric type, I would have very weaknesses, which would be beneficial for any number of reasons. But much Flareon, it would carry numerous risks as I was learning the ropes. Not to mention that, for whatever reason, I couldn't imagine myself as a Jolteon. Perhaps it was because my friend's Jolteon was a male.

I specifically remember that those three were all dependent upon special stones to evolve. While such items were fairly common, they weren't cheap. That's when I thought of something else. There were two forms that depended upon the location you were in to evolve. Leafeon and Glaceon, I believe. Supposedly, there was some form of radiation at these locations that would mutate DNA and cause the evolution. While I had difficulty understanding the exact science behind this, I did recall that these locations were far away from the city in somewhat remote locations. So even if I did decide that I wanted to evolve into one of those two, it would have been costly to go out and find these locations.

That only left two others…

However, before I could begin weighing out the pros and cons of the remaining evolutions, there was a knock at the door. At first, I thought it was Alex coming to visit. But when they knocked again, I noticed something. Whenever Alex came over, his knocking was much more frantic, as if he was coming to alert us that the building was on fire. This knocking, on the other hand, was much more contained, almost calculating in a way.

I tried to dismiss this notion. _Why the heck am I analyzing door knocking?_ I thought to myself. _Am I really that bored?_

The knock came again, this time slightly louder than before. This was enough to arouse Kirk, muttering under his breath about having to get up from important work, from the kitchen to see who was there. I tried to pretend that I had no interest in what was going on, a technique that I had picked up from Soru. Not that I could be seen anyway, as my bed was out of view of the front door due to the loveseat

"May I help you?" asked Kirk. Obviously, whoever was at the door was not one of Kirk's normal acquaintances.

"I hope that I am not bothering you. You are Kirk Ashton, correct?"

My eyes perked up. _That voice…it can't be! Not here!_ With the utmost caution to not draw attention to myself, I peeked around the side of the loveseat, praying that I was just hearing things. However, my eyes seemed to convey the same, horrifying truth. Standing in the doorway was the last person that I ever wanted to see enter the only safe haven that I truly had.

Kyle.

I quickly hid myself from his view behind the loveseat, still in shock of the image of my brother standing there talking to Kirk. I was forced to gather what I could from their conversation. I had to pray that this was just a mere coincidence.

"What can I help you with?" I heard Kirk ask, shutting the door and trapping me in with that bastard.

"I was wondering if you could possibly help me," said Kyle. "You see, a few months ago, I went out of town on a business trip. I was unable to take my little Abby with me."

"Abby?"

"My pet Eevee."

Kirk sighed. "I can see where this is going."

"I left Abby with a neighbor and she ran away. He was unable to find her. I haven't given up on finding her and—"

"Save the sob story," Kirk interrupted. "So you suspect that my Eevee could possibly be yours."

"Yes, but how did—?"

"I'm a lawyer." Kirk chuckled. "I hear these sorts of stories all the time."

"But you do believe me?" asked Kyle, sounding noticeably more surprised. I silently sat there praying, hoping that he didn't.

However, much to my dismay, Kirk laughed. "You seem like an honest person," he said. "Do you have a way of identifying Abby?"

"Y-Yes, there's this marking on her front. It's kinda hard to describe."

I began to panic. This wasn't the way this was going to end. No, not this way. Desperately, I tried to squeeze underneath the loveseat, in a last ditch effort to disappear. But I didn't get far before I felt two hands pulling at my midsection.

"Now where are you going?" a voice asked. The hands started to pull me up.

Instinctively, I twisted my head around and bit one of the hands, forcing whoever had grabbed me to drop me. I hoped that I had gotten my brother, trying to send him a message. Unfortunately, that wasn't who had grabbed me.

"Mana, what was that for?" Kirk scolded. Now I had done it. Before I could react again, I was lifted off the ground.

It was then that I got my first true look at my brother. He wore the same sunglasses that he wore when he first encountered me after my transformation. But there were a number of things different. His hair was shaved down to practically nothing, as if he was in the military, yet he was pale, as if he hadn't been in the sun for months. Instead of the white lab coat, he wore a dark blue sport jacket and pants, giving further credence to the idea that he had returned from a business trip.

"Amber?"

Soru was sitting at Kirk's feet. "Please, help me," I whispered, hoping that he would understand what a dire situation I was in, even though there was probably very little that he could do.

I was transferred from Kirk's arms to Kyle's. I was surprised by how thin and bony my brother's arms were, even with his sport jacket on. He was never one to work out, but there was almost no muscle on his limbs. _What has he done to himself?_ I wondered.

His fingers drew through my fur. "Now, look this way, sweetie," Kyle said in a sickeningly sweet tone. I refused to turn toward him. I didn't want to let him control me. But he would have his way. I felt his fingers under my chin, turning my face toward his.

I recognized the look in Kyle's eyes as he looked over me. It was that same look of perverse satisfaction that he had when he first saw me transformed. To him, seeing me in this form was like winning the lottery. Those cold eyes darted all over my body, as if he were looking for an imperfection in a diamond. All the while, his lips began to form a slight smile.

His pleasure of discover was only exceeded by my discomfort. I was frightened out of my mind. Having those icy blue eyes staring at me unnerved me to no end. I wanted to turn away, but it was like all the muscles in my body had been frozen. I couldn't move. In my head, I was begging for something to end this stare down.

"Well, is she the one you're looking for, or not?" Kirk inquired. It was easy to tell that he too was starting to feel a little uneasy about the situation.

_This is it_, I thought to myself. _He's going to take me away._ I closed my eyes, waiting to hear those words that would seal my fate. Tears fell down my face. _Good-bye, Soru. I wish…_

But what Kyle said next completely caught me off-guard. "I'm afraid that she isn't," he said tersely. He bent over and placed me on the floor. "She's lacking the mark that my little Abby had."

The next few minutes were a blur. I remember Kyle apologizing for taking up Kirk's time and him leaving. For a while, I stood there petrified, unable to move. _He…left me?_ This was very strange to me. There was no doubt in my mind that he really knew that I was his sister. Yet he decided to leave

I stumbled back to my bed, almost like a toddler first learning to walk. I recall falling up against the loveseat a few times, before finally making back to my loveseat.

Kirk seemed to notice my struggle. "Are you feeling okay, Mana?" he asked, referring to me by my pet name. I tried to reassure that I was by nodding somewhat, although as he walked back into the kitchen, I did notice a look of concern on his face.

Once Kirk was out of sight, Soru walked over to me. "Amber, what's going on?" he inquired. "Who was that?"

I tried to downplay everything. "You know as much as I do," I said, trying to get him go away.

Soru wasn't going to be denied, though. "You asked me for help, Amber. What was all that about?"

I considered coming up with a lie of some sort, trying to throw Soru off the trail again. It had worked a few times before; perhaps I could pull it off again. But deep down, I knew that the more that I kept holding the truth back, the harder it was going to be to actually tell the truth.

_I can't do this any longer_. "Soru, I have something that I have to confess," I began, trying to figure out the best way to tell him.

"What is it, Amber?" he asked, sitting down attentively in front of me. "You can tell me anything you want to.

"What I'm about to tell you is really bizarre and, quite frankly, unbelievable. But it is all true." I took a deep breath. "I haven't always been the way you see me right now. I wasn't always an Eevee. A few months ago, I found myself tricked into being experimented on by this group of humans. What you see before you is the result of whatever they did to me."

"What are you trying to say?" he inquired, perhaps only further confused by me trying to no

_This is it_, I told myself. "Soru, the truth is that I am…that I was once…human."

Soru's eyes widened. He looked upon me with a mixture of awe and confusion. It looked he was going to try to say something, but only one word managed to pass through his lips.

"H…Human?


	13. A Long Overdue Update No chapter yet

To all my faithful readers,

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas. I do realize that it has been a year since I last updated the story. I know that I have been quite silent and I haven't answered many private messages. I apologize. The big issue is that my life has been extremely hectic the past year. College has kept me extremely busy and has forced me to not focus on the story as much as I have wanted to. I will also blame myself for procrastinating as well, as I did have a fair bit of time this summer, but I failed to take advantage of the situation.

But enough of the excuses, most of you are wondering when the next chapter will be out. The good news is that it has been started and I have a general frame for the chapter as it pertains to the events that occur in the chapter. The question is how much I can accomplish before MLK weekend, when I return to school. I am making it a goal to have the chapter completed before then. If I'm lucky, I also have another story in the works that I may try to post with it.

Again, I wish to apologize for the long wait. I thank everyone for being patient with me. I will attempt to answer more PMs and such from this point forward.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

PokemonHero


	14. Chapter 12: Truth and Consequences

**A/N: I finally did it. I finally finished the latest chapter of _The Light in the Darkness_. Again, I apologize for taking so long. I know I said I would have it ready in January. However, not long after I posted the update, I got sick, which screwed me up for about a week. After that, I got dragged into Skyward Sword again, which killed my winter break. Then I had my spring semester of college at VT, which was made more difficult by the fact that I missed a week of classes due to competing at Nationals with the Clay Target team. After that, I did a summer semester. Finally, I've been able to find some time to work on this fic, just before I go back to classes in the fall.**

**I will try to make sure the next chapter doesn't take as long, but as in the past, I can make no guarantees, especially since I'm going into my junior year at college. I thank all of you who have stuck around waiting for this. I cannot guarantee this is my best work ever, but I hope to get back in the groove again. As usual, feel free to comment.**

**Chapter 12: Truth and Consequences**

I told him everything: the letter, arriving at Gilroy, the transformation, the escape. Every single thing that I hadn't told him before, I told him now. By the time I finished, I was fighting back tears. Soru didn't say anything as I spoke. I don't know if he was being courteous, or if he really didn't know what to make of it.

"I really didn't want to lie to you, Soru," I said, "but I was scared that you wouldn't believe me." He was still silent, which concerned me. "You…you do believe me, right?"

He looked away for a moment, seemingly trying to process everything that he had just been told. "This is a whole lot to take in, Amber," he began. "You're saying…that humans are actually capable of changing one of their own into a Pokémon?"

"I guess," I admitted, knowing all too well how ridiculous the concept sounded. "But you have to believe me. This really happened to me." As I spoke, my voice began to rise.

Soru moved closer, gesturing for me to quiet down. He glanced back at the kitchen and once he was sure Kirk wasn't coming, he turned back to me. "I will be honest with you, Amber. This is very hard for me to comprehend." I started to turn away, disappointed. "But that doesn't mean I don't believe you."

"But you just said—"

Again, he hushed me up. "There are a lot of things that I don't understand about humans. Perhaps they are capable of doing such things. It wouldn't surprise me, having seen what these humans are capable of." He placed a paw on my shoulder. "I trust you, Amber."

I felt an overwhelming rush of emotion surging through me. I jumped up and hugged Soru's neck. "Thank you, Soru," I said, trying desperately to keep my voice down. "I was so worried that you wouldn't believe me. I was afraid—"

A gagging sound alerted me that I was yet again choking out Soru. I immediately released my stranglehold on his neck. I blushed and looked down at the ground sheepishly. "S-Sorry…"

Soru rubbed his neck, a sheepish smile on his face. "Why wouldn't I believe you, Amber?" he asked rhetorically. Then, he looked down, as if he was pondering something. "But…"

I tilted my head, almost afraid to hear the second part of his statement. "But what, Soru?"

"There's one thing that doesn't make sense." He looked toward the door that led out of the apartment, as if he was expecting someone to knock. "If…that was your brother earlier…and he wanted to do all those bad things to you before…then why did he leave you here? Wouldn't that be the last thing he wanted to do?"

It wasn't what I was expecting him to say, which was somewhat of a relief. But at the same time, it was a very curious observation. Why did Kyle leave me here? It must've taken a lot of time and resources to locate me. After all, it had been a few months since I broke out. Plus, I would've thought that he would have a personal vendetta for me, especially considering I had injured him and probably embarrassed him. Surely, I would've been a top priority for Gilroy to recapture. Yet, when he did find me, he left me behind. Scared shitless, of course, but I was still with Kirk and Soru.

Plus, I could tell that he could recognize me. I could see it in his eyes. It was as if he had finally found something precious that he had been searching for. Yet when he left me, I sensed no remorse. It was as if…he was planning something. As if he wanted me to stay here. But why?

I looked up and noticed Soru staring at me, waiting for me to answer his question. I shook my head. "I…I have no idea…" I didn't tell him about my other thoughts.

"Maybe he didn't recognize you," he suggested.

I didn't totally dismiss his notion. "Maybe…But I knew…I knew it was him…And I could tell that…" I looked away again, really not wishing to talk more on the subject.

Luckily, Soru seemed to notice my angst and decided to stop probing. He put a paw on my shoulder. "Let's…not talk about it anymore…especially if you're uncomfortable."

I looked back at him, a clear look of relief on my face. "Thank you, Soru." I paused for a moment. "Could you…not tell anyone else about this?"

He nodded. "Of course, Amber. You have my word."

"Ahem…"

Both of us jumped and looked up. Kirk stood there with his arms crossed. He didn't seem upset or anything, but he was looking at us with great interest, as if he were listening in on our conversation. Which seemed particularly odd, as both of us knew he couldn't understand us. It was also then that I noticed that Soru had a soft blush on his face, as if he were embarrassed to be caught talking to me.

"I never thought I'd have to repeat myself," he said. "Usually, you two are on top of things, especially with dinner."

I looked up at the clock on the wall, realizing that I had been talking to him for a few hours. Quietly, Soru got up and walked out to the kitchen. I looked up at Kirk before following suit. I noticed that he was looking over me with particular interest. I picked up my pace, quickly catching up to Soru and joining him for dinner.

We ate dinner in silence, in sharp contrast to the last few hours. The rest of the evening was more of the same. I couldn't bring myself to talk to him again. I felt guilty that all my worries were now on his mind. I poured my soul out for him and, while it felt good to get it off my chest, it did seem unfair to make him worry about me. At least, more than he already did.

Kirk didn't stay up late that night, as he had work the next morning. As I expected, I was having difficulty settling down. My mind was still racing. There were so many unanswered questions. How did Kyle find me? Why did he leave me? What was he planning next? I tossed and turned before letting out a frustrated groan, unable to get comfortable.

As far as I could tell, Soru was asleep. At the very least, he wasn't shifting around or talking to himself. I began to wonder what he really thought about what I told him. He said he believed me, but did he really? How could I know for sure? All I could do was trust his word. He had been honest with me up to that point, so I had no reason to not trust him. Still, I had my apprehensions.

I closed my eyes, doing my best to just go to sleep. But as I did, images of my earlier encounter flashed through my head. Especially Kyle's icy blue eyes. I shivered at the thought of his cold gaze looking over me. It wasn't long before I was awake again, gasping for air.

After failing numerous times to fall asleep, I gave up. Doing my best to not disturb anyone else, I got up and began walking around the living room. It wasn't like I wasn't tired; in reality, I was about to keel over. Yet those thoughts continued to haunt me.

As I walked around the room as quietly as I could, my eyes would be drawn to Soru, sleeping soundly. Every time I did, I suddenly felt…calmer. Those fears that had been holding me back were no longer bothering me. I walked over to him, an interesting idea crossing my mind. The only question was, would Soru be willing to share?

* * *

Amber's confession was, needless to say, shocking. It was very difficult to believe at first. I mean, a human becoming a Pokémon? It seemed outrageous. But Amber seemed to sense the doubts that I was having and tried her best to explain everything to me. She spoke about receiving a letter from her brother and how it led her to some place called Gilroy. The more she talked, the more she emotional she got. And the more confused I became.

Eventually, I began to get the gist of what she was talking about, even if I didn't fully understand the specifics. She had been tricked by her brother and transformed into a Pokémon. She managed to escape and we found her sometime afterward. Like I said before, the whole idea was outrageous. I am sure that she had told this to most other Pokémon, she would've been scoffed and cast aside as crazy.

However, I felt differently. I'm not sure the particular reason. Perhaps it was because I had gotten to know her personally over those months. Perhaps it was because I could hear the fear in her voice as she told her tale. But whatever the reason, I believed her.

Another thought occurred to me as she told me about how she came to be: my own past. I know, I know. I've lamented about it a lot already. However, I couldn't help but feel guilty as she spoke. It created a dilemma for me: should I tell her or not?

It only seemed fair that I told her the truth about myself. She was telling me her deepest secret, something that she probably wouldn't have told anyone else. Yet I was holding back on her, and I had ever since we met. But what if what I told her lead to a rift between us, or worse? I didn't know if I could take it. So, the question remained: should I, or shouldn't I?

_No_, I decided, shaking my head. _I won't tell her_. I shifted around in my bed. _At least, not right now_. She was too worried about her own issues at the moment. Trying to talk about my issues would probably be too much on her mind. I would wait until things calmed down, and then I would tell her.

"Soru?"

I turned my head to find Amber sitting in front of me. "Is something else wrong, Amber?" I asked.

"I was having trouble sleeping and I was wondering if…perhaps, I could sleep over here with you tonight," she inquired sheepishly. "I mean, if…that's okay with you and…"

I couldn't help but smile. She was so sweet, almost like a child. "It's no problem," I said, making some room on my bed for her.

She looked between me and the space I made her, perhaps somewhat surprised that I was actually allowing her to lay down beside me. Tentatively, she walked over and lay down in the space I made her. She curled herself up in a tight ball, just barely rubbing against my side.

She gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Soru," she whispered quietly.

"You're welcome," I whispered. Before I could say anything else, she had fallen asleep.

I found myself looking down on Amber's sleeping figure for a long time that evening. She was such a cute little female. If there was one thing that those humans got right in the process, it was creating what appeared to be the perfect Eevee. Of course, I knew that she wanted to be her former human self, but if she was stuck like this, she shouldn't ever worry about her looks.

I curled up around her, almost completely surrounding her. My head rested beside hers. I was careful to not touch her in any inappropriate manner, although it was somewhat difficult. "Good night, Amber..." I whispered softly before drifting off to sleep.

The next few days were very uneventful. During the day, Amber was very quiet, almost as if she were contemplating something. When I asked her what she was thinking about, she would respond with very vague answers, leaving me more confused than anything else.

The nights were an entirely different story. She would toss and turning, unable to get to sleep. Occasionally, she would wake up Kirk, who would do his best to calm her down. However, this never worked and eventually, she would come over to my side of the room and ask to sleep with me. Once she did, she would sleep like a log. By the third night, I would insist that she sleep with me, so she wouldn't disturb Kirk anymore.

The fact that she wouldn't have any sleeping issues while sharing the bed with me was perplexing. What was it about sharing a bed with me that made her comfortable? I guessed that she wanted someone to comfort her. Still, why me and not Kirk? Eventually, I had concluded that it was just a matter of convenience; I had the closest bed to her. Yet, I couldn't help but wonder if there was more to it.

A few days after all of this started, Paco and Alex were over. Paco, as I have previously stated, is quite observant and was quick to notice Amber's behavior was unusual, even when she didn't stick around in the living room for long. "What's wrong with la chica?"

I sighed. "Amber had a bit of a scare a few days ago."

He tilted his head. "Oh, what happened?"

I hesitated. Amber made me promise to not tell anyone else about what had happened. I looked down, pawing at the ground as I tried to come up with something, afraid that Paco might inquiry further.

However, he seemed to notice my trepidation. "It's something personal, isn't it?" I nodded. "Okay…I won't push it."

I sighed in relief. However, there was something I wanted to mention to him. "Paco…There is something I do want to talk to you about."

He nodded and sat down, back against the front of the loveseat. "Okay, hombre. What is it?"

"Well…After her scare…Amber hasn't been sleeping all that well. I mean, she's tossing and turning every night."

"Yikes, must have been pretty bad then."

I nodded again. "However, every night since…she has ended up coming over to my bed every night and…well, sleeping with me."

Paco chuckled. "You're acting like it's a bad thing, hombre. I would've thought you'd be thanking Arceus for this opportunity."

I blushed a little in embarrassment. "W-Well…N-No, it's not a bad thing. I was just saying…She's coming to my bed and not Kirk's. I don't think it's anything…but…"

He cut me off. "She's sleeping with you because she trusts you."

"Even if that's the case-"

Paco wasn't letting me get out of this. "Don't try to sugarcoat it, hombre. This might be your best opportunity to let her know how much you like her."

I looked down. "But…Wouldn't I be taking advantage of her? I mean, she's not in her best emotional state right now."

"Soru, you keep overthinking things. If you don't take chances, you'll never know if she has the same feelings toward you."

_He does make a good point_. Perhaps showing her some affection would make her happy. But I could also see it backfiring, and that's what made me nervous about doing it. "I…I don't know. This just doesn't feel like the right time to me. I just want to do something that will make her happy."

He sighed, seemingly a little disappointed that I wasn't taking the bait. "Fine, fine. I do know how you can make her happy, though."

"How?"

"Well…when are you two going to the park next?"

I thought for a moment. "I think Kirk mentioned something about tomorrow."

Paco clapped his hand together. "Here's what you do: Do whatever she wants to do. Do what you can to make her happy. I know that you usually like to just sit around in the sun at the park, but trust me, do this and she'll brighten up."

"You think so?" I asked. I had to admit, it was a pretty good idea.

He nodded confidently. "I know so."

Not much notable happened after Paco left. It was just like any other evening since the encounter. Amber was back in my bed again. As we settled in for the night, I noticed her cuddling up closer to my chest than usual. I probably wouldn't have thought much of it had it not been for my conversation with Paco earlier. I shifted away a little, causing her to look up.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, noticing my own shifting.

I shook my head. "N-No…Just a little close, that's all." I looked away as I could feel my cheeks heating up a little.

"Oh…I'm sorry about that." She moved over a little, giving me more room. She yawned softly and laid her head down. "Thanks for doing this, Soru. You don't know how much I appreciate this."

I watched her as she drifted off to sleep, much like the previous nights. However, I did something that I hadn't done before. Once I knew she was deep asleep, I leaned in and pressed my lips against the top of her head, gently kissing her. I don't know why I did it, but it felt right. I drifted off to sleep, wondering what the next day had in store for me.


End file.
